Michuki' roguishness needs to be tamed

This columnist was taken aback by Cabinet Minister John Michuki’s comments as reported by the media houses. In the past, the public and the media have time and time again criticized the OP Provincial Administration and National Security Minister, to the effect that the former colonialist’s collaborator still harbours ‘ukoloni mentality’; he is a loose cannon and is a political burden to the Government of President Mwai Kibaki. On my part, I have always given the one time Ford Asili legislator the benefit of the doubt, until when I read his recent utterances.
The comments were uttered by the Minister when he was addressing Coast provincial administrators in Mombasa. Out of nowhere Michuki seemed to have opted to censure the region’s leaders for complaining too much, as he puts, to the effect that they are inciting their people into believing that they have been marginalized by the Kibaki administration. One wonders where he got this idea that people are being incited by their leaders.

Unless he comes out to complain to have been misquoted by the media, by talking such nonsense Michuki makes everyone wonder what the motive behind these matusi is. I now truly believe that the man from Kangema is a political loose cannon. This is what the Minister said in part: “Why do we have to complain every now and then that we are marginalised , yet we are the second richest region after Nairobi?” The word “we” he meant the Coast leaders. He continued to say: “Look at Kwale District for instance. It is one of the districts in the region with productive land yet its people have kept on complaining that the Kibaki regime has discriminated against them.”

Has the Coast region been marginalized, you bet. This marginalisation has not been kept secret. It has been an open Government policy by the two previous governments, namely, the Kenyatta and the Moi administrations. Daniel arap Moi came to power and remained in power for almost half of a Century and did nothing to change what his predecessor had started when it comes to the region.
It seems to me and to many people that Michuki does not know what he is talking about. For instance, can he explain to the Coast people why all the ‘up-country people” settled by former President Jomo Kenyatta at the Lake Kenyatta Settlement Scheme in Lamu District were allocated title deeds for the farmlands they were freely given and yet the rest of the Lamu natives don’t have title deeds for their owned lands? How about Shimba Hills Settlement Scheme in Kwale, can he tell the Coast people who were settled there?
Here is a test for Michuki. Can he enlighten the Coastals how the Kenyatta family acquired such large tracks of land at the Coast, the size of two African countries, Togo and Benin combined? How did the upcountry people acquire all the best beach front plots at the Coast? Let him go to Wasini Island and see who owns the land there if it not his DCs, DOs and other senior Kwale District administration officials. Better yet, I challenge him to research and tell the country how much land in the province is owned by all former Coast Provincial Commissioners, (from the late Isiaya Mathenge to Eliud Mahihu to Nicholas Mberia and others) and former provincial Land Commissioners. Then let him compare and contrast the Coast Province’s findings with that of his native Central Province or that of Rift Valley.

The Kwale, Lamu or Tana River residents are not economically empowered as those of Kangema, Muthoiya, Gatundu, Bomet, or Baringo. The Kwale people cannot provide the needed bank collateral to acquire loans as they have no titles for their lands. As for the tourism industry, why did the Government see it fit to establish Utalii College in Nairobi as opposed to Mombasa or Malindi? None of the three administrations has seen it prudent to at least establish a satellite or constituent campus of the premier tourism industry college in the province.
Why is the region without a public university where there are several of them in Nairobi and its surrounding environs (read Central Province) and one each in Western and Nyanza provinces. Is it just a mere coincidence here Mr Minister?
Michuki is turning out to be truly ‘a debe tupu’ Minister despite the fact that he is holding the senior most Cabinet portfolio in the country, second only to the Vice Presidency. Lest he has forgotten that gone are the days, when during colonial era and in the one party reign, where no one dared to question a senior chief (‘colonial collaborator’) and or senior minister in the government of their questionable utterances or actions. Those days, these individuals were close to demi-gods.

Unless of course Michuki had intentionally used his unwarranted and matusi utterances to pick up a political fight and power supremacy contest with his Transport counterpart, Chirau Mwakwere and other Coast leaders. I mentioned the Matuga MP because he is the senior most political leader in the region and is the region’s Mugogo who happens to be first among equals when it comes to supporting President Kibaki not only in the province but in the country. Mwakwere has gone on record to have genuinely praised the Kibaki administration when it comes to the distribution of resources since it came to power. No one will dispute the fact that the Coast people are slightly better off under Kibaki than they had ever been under his two predecessors. In a perfect world Michuki would not still be serving at the Cabinet level after the ‘Artur brothers’ debacle and continued insecurity in the country. Who is really to blame for the insecurity in Kenya? Although the buck stops at State House, but the person the Head of State gave the responsibility to manage security apparatus is Michuki. The insecurity is so bad such that even his own Cabinet colleagues are not safe despite being provided with armed security bodyguards.

Boldly speaking, Kibaki is not going to be successful in his re-election bid without the majority support of the Coast voters. His Minister Michuki is not helping the President’s re-election campaign with his gratuitous remarks. Kibaki needs those Coast leaders who have remained loyal to him after the split of NARC. Instead of Michuki courting these leaders on behalf of his boss, he does completely the opposite and is seen picking up a fight with them.