Ken Lusaka: I'm being strategic in my association with Uhuru, Ruto

Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka speaks out for the first time on his move to join Deputy President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza camp and how President Uhuru Kenyatta tried to implore upon him to join Raila Odinga’s Azimio wing. Mr Lusaka who is seeking to recapture the Bungoma governor seat which he held between 2013 and 2017, opens up on how the President and his deputy’s strained relations put him in an awkward situation even as he reveals why the ‘Handshake’ between the President and Mr Odinga was good for the country and how it eased his work in his current position. He speaks of his relationship with DP Ruto’s allies, some of whom he presided over their axing by Jubilee Party from plum Senate positions and defends his administration’s role in the purchase of the non-carcinogenic wheelbarrows during his tenure as governor.

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Q: Why did you choose to return to Bungoma to run for governor after rising to national stature as the Senate Speaker?

If you look at my track record, I’m a strong believer in servant leadership having served in the public service in the field in provincial administration as a district officer and district commissioner. I believe in doing things that really touch the lives of the people.

I also listen to the people of Bungoma. I have been away for about four years but every time I’ve gone there, they tell me to come back.

When I served them as a governor I had a vision, manifesto which was to run from 2013 all the way for the two terms. So I want to go and complete what I started.

Q: What influenced your choice of party, Ford Kenya?

In as much as I’m a brand on my own, I chose Ford Kenya because we have a heritage with the party.

It’s a national party but it has a lot history in Bungoma. Remember that, when it started as Ford, we had Masinde Muliro and later Michael Wamalwa Kijana who rose and became a vice President. Ford Kenya is also the second oldest political party in Kenya after Kanu. It’s a party that resonates with the people of Bungoma and thus very easy to deal with Ford Kenya.

Q: Did you face any pressure not to join the DP’s camp and instead work with Raila Odinga’s Azimio?

Yes, there was a lot of pressure especially from people like [Defence Cabinet Secretary] Eugene [Wamalwa] and they even escalated it to the Head of State to try and convince me to go the other side but again like I said politics is local. I suffered in 2017 because you know I was the first one to run on Jubilee and then you know there was Nasa [National Super Alliance] and Moses Wetang’ula was a principal there. So I was swimming against the current and you know when you are in this situation you use a lot of time and energy.

Looking at the formations in Bungoma now, out of nine MPs, seven are in UDA. So that choice was informed by what is on the ground and I respectfully told them that it would be better for me to vie on a party in a coalition which is popular on the ground. Nobody goes to an election to lose.

Q: What exactly did the President tell you when he implored upon you to join his camp?

He just said he wanted me to be in the Azimio camp and be their candidate because I’m the most popular candidate and both sides wanted to have a strong candidate to win the seat.

But another challenge was that already Governor Wycliffe Wangamati had already gone to Azimio through the Democratic Action Party-Kenya and I was not very sure that it would not be a trap to join that team.

I wanted to be sure that I would be on the ballot.

Q: For the President to reach you, it means you were in a good relationship with him, what assurance did you give him?

The President is a good friend of mine. The deputy President is also a good friend of mine. All I told him was that I would not disrespect him because he is the President and has been a good friend of mine but a time comes when you have to chart your own future.

Q: Deep from in heart, in whose camp between the President and the DP you would be comfortable?

That’s a difficult question. Both are my friends. The President has visited my rural home during my homecoming May 17, 2014 and I was the only governor whom the President visited and planted a tree in my home.

That tells you how deep our relationship is. When I lost the governorship he proposed my name for Speaker.

It is also true that the deputy President is a good friend of mine and the one who really convinced me to wind up my party after a very long conversation with him. So they are both my friends; it’s just unfortunate that when these rifts started coming they put some of us in a very awkward position.

Q: Why did you miss out from an event where you were to be unveiled as the Kenya Kwanza Bungoma gubernatorial candidate at the DP's Karen residence last Month?

I don’t know where people got this story. But you see the event coincided with the [International Conference on the Great Lakes Region]. I’m the current president and was chairing the session throughout.

So I didn’t know I was supposed to be unveiled. What I know is that the DP wanted to meet the Bungoma team so that they agree on campaign strategy.

When they called me I told them it was not possible for me to attend.

That morning, the president was supposed to open the conference. There were all indications that he was coming to open it until the last minute so there was no way I was going to leave the meeting to go and be unveiled. I also just read the reports that I was supposed to be there to be unveiled.

Later on I joined the meeting at 3pm and we were just putting strategies how we carry out our campaigns in Bungoma.

Q: Are you struggling to appease both the President and the DP?

I’m not struggling; I’m just trying to be strategic with performance.

These are both my friends; you don’t want to lose any of them. You want to carry both of them along so you have to be strategic in your engagement. Of course when decisions have to be taken and maybe the President’s interests are there, he takes precedence and everybody knows that.

Q: What do you make of your role in the ouster from Senate leadership of some people you now sit with in Kenya Kwanza like Prof Kithure Kindiki, Senator Susan Kihika and her counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen among others?

I want people to understand. One, as Speaker I don’t vote and I don’t debate. All I do is to communicate the position of a party. This was a position that was taken by Jubilee Party. They brought it to my desk and all I needed to do as Speaker was to check that the procedure was followed.

What guides me in that House are the standing orders and the constitution. My work is to communicate the decision of the political party. So for me it was nothing personal.

Q: Do you think there is a possibility by the system to concoct charges against anybody?

It has happened in the past and we have heard about it. The beauty is that the courts go by the evidence before it.

That’s why I really want to thank our judicial system. It has come out very strongly in trying to ensure that everybody gets justice. But the only inconveniences may be being dragged to court and the humiliation but eventually the truth shall set one free.

Q: During your tenure as Bungoma governor, your administration was under scrutiny over the purchase of 10 ‘non-carcinogenic’ wheelbarrows at a cost of Sh1.09 million. Has this matter been addressed?

First of all, no money was lost. Two, it is me who ordered for an audit of how the departments were performing. When I discovered that some wheelbarrows had been purchased at Sh109,000 each, I wanted to find out what it was and indeed they explained to me. I discovered it was not an ordinary wheelbarrow. Who does not know the cost of a wheelbarrows? It’s between Sh4,000 and Sh5,000.

What happened was that we were putting up an international slaughterhouse which I started when I was a permanent secretary in the Ministry of Livestock Development. For you to export any dairy, beef or even poultry products, you must use materials that are non-carcinogenic to protect people against cancer. Maybe the only unfortunate thing they said it was a wheelbarrow. They should have said it was a food trolley. In fact, that recommendation came from the Ministry headquarters that the material used for that wheelbarrow should be non-carcinogenic so that you can then export that beef or chicken to other countries.

Those who quoted the lowest had it at Sh109,000, there was Sh130,000 and the other Sh140,000, how come nobody quoted Sh3,000? That means the specifications that were given were clear on what they were looking for and that’s why the cost was that. In any case the matter went to court because of the process not because money was lost and the people were acquitted. That was pure propaganda then.

Q: You are in Ford Kenya but in the same coalition with United Democratic Alliance (UDA) which has been dishing out wheelbarrows to some of its supporters. Would you advise the party to give those non-carcinogenic wheelbarrows instead of these normal wheelbarrows to address the cancer threat as you mentioned?

Non-carcinogenic materials are for specific purposes for example transportation of beef from the slaughter house to whichever point you are taking it. It is basically for export.

When it comes to export you cannot do it without that.

The wheelbarrows being given to UDA supporters are not meant for such special functions. Just to help them on domestic duties.

But if the can afford non-carcinogenic, and you can see the cost, then they can do it but I don’t think it is advisable.

Q: What do you think is the DP’s place and support in Bungoma and Western in general.

He has quite some substantial support. Like Bungoma, he has the support of Mt Elgon, Kimilili, Webuye, Bumula and Webuye East. The only places where we have Azimio candidates is Kanduyi and Tongaren where he also has support. This has come as a result of the DP’s regular visits to the area.

Q: Under what circumstances can you work with Raila Odinga?

Raila is a good friend of mine. We support the same team— Arsenal —and he has watched football in my house, I have been to his house, we have talked and I have no difficulty working with him at all. In any case I worked with him when I was a permanent secretary when he was Prime Minister.

At some point people have to survive.

Q: Do you think Uhuru is justified to back Raila to succeed him at the expense of DP Ruto who supported him in 2002, 2013 and 2017?

I don’t know what informed that choice but it is his democratic right to support whoever he wants.

People are different, Mwai Kibaki decided to do it covertly but the current President has decided to do it overtly.

Q: There are concerns you have not been seen in the DP’s national campaigns, could it be as a result of trying to balance your relationship between the president and the DP?

I find myself in very unprecedented circumstances because I have to be very careful in the position I hold.

I’m still the Speaker and I will be making judgments in that House.

So you don’t want to create a perception that you are on this side. So I try to balance.

In any case, the House is still on. May be once we go on recess; you will see me in full swing.