Faced by a hostile crowd the other day in Kasayani Village, and the kiosk his bodyguards had pushed him into was being peeled off plank by plank by those baying for his blood, Mwau knew of one sure trick he could pull to get them off his back.
Sandwiched by his guards, he dashed through the backdoor towards his waiting helicopter, whose rotor blades were already running. Looking back and seeing the angry crowd closing in, he went into his pockets, pulled out a wad of crisp notes, and threw them at his pursuers.
That did the trick.
That gave the crowd something to scramble for, something that is hard to come by these days – money! But even as the tallish and burly former police marksman stooped to get into his chopper, a few still dared pelt him with stones.
However that was not for long, because as the pilot pumped more into the engines, the rotating blades raised so much dust around, these few too had to take off, to avoid being buried in or blinded by dust. In any case, the dust billowing from the ground had served another purpose that of camouflaging ‘The Boss’, as he took off, clad in his traditional dark and shiny glasses.
The friend of Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange party would later condemn the attack whilst justifying his having gone into ‘enemy’ or Wiper Democratic Movement territory saying he had Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka’s blessing to attend the function from where he was ejected.
The attack on ‘The Boss’, as he likes to call himself in reference to his position at the helm of his Party of Independent Candidates of Kenya (or simply Pick), on Saturday came two days after the panga-attack on Fisheries Minister Amason Kingi’s meeting in Mombasa.
The pompous politician known for his deep pockets and as one who rarely hesitates to splash his cash around, like when he turned up at retired President Moi’s harambee with a paper bag bulging with Sh2 million in cash in late 1990s, was in Kasayani village in Kibwezi constituency.
But unlike in the past when his helicopter has attracted curious crowds the way lamps draw moths, that Saturday he was in “strange territory”.
The chopper landed at Kisayani Secondary School grounds where Mwau and a few of his friends came out and walked towards a function hosted by a Wiper’s party parliamentary aspirant for Kibwezi West Mr Mwengi Mutuse at the nearby market.
On his arrival at the dais, Mwau was confronted by three men who tried to push him away shouting he was not invited since he was from another party.
Mutuse watched helplessly as the incensed crowd, chanting Wiper! Wiper! drove Mwau out of the meeting.
His bodyguards then took control and pushed him into a nearby kiosk for his safety but the crowd started demolishing it before he found his way outside.
Mutuse tried to calm the crowd that retorted it did not want anybody opposed to Kalonzo in their midst.
Mwau condemned the incident saying it was primitive and senseless but confirmed he was not injured in the attack.
He explained that last Kalonzo invited him to his office and asked him to support him in his presidential bid. ‘’My going to the Wiper Party meeting was as a pact with the VP to work closely with his people in his party in line with what he asked me to do and nothing else,” he went on.
An aide to the VP confirmed the meeting between Mwau and Kalonzo, took place and the two agreed to work together. He, however, declined to comment on?the Makueni violence.
Mwau wondered how and why should the people be incited against him yet he did provoke or abuse anybody. “I have now come to realise that the VP’s agreement with me to work together had a sinister motive against me,” he lamented.
Mr Mwau claimed the nature of the attack demonstrated that the Wiper Party leadership could not be trusted.
Mutuse expressed regret over the incident but blamed it on Mwau who, he said, had not been invited. “He knows very well he is supporting my political rival whose function he was coming from and that now he wanted to delude me, something that angered my supporters,’’ he added.
source: Standard digital
