MWAMBURI VS MAIRURA …WHAT ARE THEY REALLY FIGHTING OVER?

by obilo kobilo
The Illuminator ran some stories last Saturday to the effect that the Muso Chairman Mr. Mwmburi Mwang’ombe was attacked by one Mr. Victor Mairura and hit by a bottle on the face. The paper went ahead to narrate how the chairman frantically pursued his attacker in a bid to avenge. I don’t have a problem with the Muso mouthpiece informing the student body who beats who or who is attacked where and how. I’ve been taught in my Journalism class that prominence is one feature that makes the “isness” of news and justifies its appeal for mass consumption.

Now, there is some harm that went with this kind of coverage. To me, it did not only portray Mr. Mwamburi as a man under siege from his opponents who are ready to go an extra mile of getting physical in airing their views but also as a man who looks helpless in front of his political distracters.

A story is told of our Prime Minister getting the scar on his face while in a political gathering somewhere In Migori County during the infamous tenure of the then area MP and former Minster for water and irrigation. But to that extend, the story simply remained for the locals consumption and never went beyond the borders of the expansive county relegating it to rumor status. Meaning as a politician Mwamburi could still do with such kind of attack and escape the public attention…He could had still told us how he was attacked in a senate meeting while trying to protest against the frequent power black outs especially in Soweto area.

Mairura can as well utilize the concept of raw irritation that is malevolently lubricated by own insecurities to cast a bizarre aspersions that Mwamburi is besmirching him since he is deemed a threat to upper echelons of power. Suppose he does this, a handful of us will actually pay homage to this school of thought forgetting that there is much in the backstage surrounding this occurrence than what we are always treated to on our notice boards. However, if he adopts this line of thinking, some might be tempted to ask him as was portrayed in the illuminator article, what he did as the Ass. Sec Gen during their short-lived tenure, which was characterized by rampage claiming the life of one student?

Mairura can still go ahead to claim that (which is already doing round) Mwamburi is not at peace with anybody who takes him around ammunition of critics and easily loses his temper to the point of getting physical.He can fire a salvo to Mwamburi alleging that he is in one caliber with the likes of Museveni who can even spray his opponents with pepper fluid upon slightest provocation. He could further his arguments from the proceedings which acquired a reactionary hue that undermined the course of events letting into action the two. In attendance were members who are presumed to be in the opposition and government camps complicating issues for both Mwamburi and Mairura but weighing downwardly more to Mariura than Mwamburi.

But one issue which Mairura can find trickier to attend to is his continuous ludicrous, wholly abysmal and unwarranted outburst against the Chair that leaves a sour flavor in the taste buds prompting the question of how genuine is his reform crusade. You see, in politics you only become relevant to my existence if you reciprocate the back-scratching I might have offered to you sometime back in our engagements. Complicating for Mairura issues in this statement is his alleged involvement and silence over the tendering process.

Mwamburi can as well claim that Mairura considers him an enemy simply because he questioned and was against his role in the tendering process. This will open Mairura to questioning whether he is really fighting the Chair on ideologies or he simply protecting the status quo which is threatened by the chair!

Irrespective of the outcome of the whole development, one thing is standing out clearly; We are in a big mix up in distinguishing a hoax from change, pretenders from reformers and wolves from sheep. We might stagnate here for the better part of this academic year unless…