Why TJ Kajwang was heckled at Kariobangi CORD Rally
Ruaraka MP TJ Kajwang received the baptism of fire when he together with Mathare MP Steven Kariuki and nominator Senator Elizabeth Ongoro hosted Raila and the other CORD principles for the OKOA Kenya rally at Kariobangi grounds on Saturday.
The trouble started when rowdy youths, chanting “Jawuoro! Jakuo!”, stopped him from entering the venue. Hadn’t Hon. Elizabeth Ongoro not intervened, God knows what would have happened.
But why would the MP who was once a darling of the Ruaraka constituents be detested that much? Why TJ was heckled and what is the cause of this bad blood between him and the youths of Ruaraka?
TJ, the younger brother to the Late Senator Oteino Kajwang, has nobody to blame but himself. He his blaming Hon. Ongoro for staging the whole thing, but the truth is who wants to get paid to heckle TJ? People are willing to do it at no fee at all; and what is Hon. Ongoro’s interest in Ruaraka anyway? She worked here while we were still in the larger Kasarani, so Ruaraka would be a demotion!
TJ is the only MP I know of that people ignore. His meetings are hardly attended by the residence of all the five wards, save for his few sycophants. The Tom Juma Kajwang lurking behind that loquacious façade of an eloquent lawyer is a callous know-it-all character that only toadies can work with.
When did the Rains Start?
In the run to 2013 elections, TJ, though broke, was loved by nearly everyone in Ruaraka. People would listen to him and say this guy truly understands our needs. When the nominations came, TJ sailed through easily, on the basis that Majiwa was not in the good books in the orange party.
During his campaigns, TJ had a diversified campaign team. He had a team of youths, a team of women and community elders. I remember we were persuaded to support him by his then close confidant Omondi Alokon. During local visits, TJ would often send Jimmy Africa and his group in advance to survey the grounds and provide intelligence on the prevailing status! Any moment you saw Jimmy’s car meant that TJ was likely to show up.
Comparing then and now gives a whole different picture. Since becoming the MP of Ruaraka, TJ has worked very hard to burn the bridges that he used to reach where he is today. It all started after the demise of the experienced Obuya Nyangolo, who was the then CDFC chair.
The vacant CDFC Chair attracted the interest of various people. TJ dangled the seat, using it to get political backing here and there. In the interim, he left his cousin George to hold the position in acting capacity.
The people of Utalii knew they deserved that seat, and upfront was Omondi Alokon, an experienced opinion leader in Utaliii Ward. The people of Mathare North were also claiming the seat, owing to the fact that Nyangolo was from their ward.
People waited as days, weeks and months elapsed without any news. Then came the Constituency Uwezo Fund Committee, and TJ used the chances to appease the people of Mathare North, while lying to the people of Utalii that CDFC Chair was theirs. Following this melodrama, Utalii Ward ended up with no representation in the Ruaraka Uwezo Fund Committee.
A few months later, after the burial of the Ruai Land Dealer Ochok, TJ confirmed George as the CDFC chair. The news caused protest in his camp, but the short-fused TJ instead opted to fire anyone who raised questions. This saw Onyango Jaugenya out of roads board, and coming in was Kajwang’s close confidant Abiola. The MP begun to divide and rule, choosing only to work with people from South Nyanza and a few sycophants from Seme, Uyoma and Bondo to balance his skewed list.
At ward level, in all the five wards, TJ abandoned the people elected by the community to be in the CDF project management committees for his close allies.
In Utalii he went further ahead to start working with aspiring MCA Abel Atito, instead of the people’s choice Hon. Wilson Ocholla. To make things worse, a chunk of bursary forms were given to Atito to help him counter Ocholla. This was not taken well with the majority of Utalii Voters. He further cemented his relationship with Atito by hiring Odera Ondiegi, a former chair of Atito’s campaign team, to become the Ruaraka constituency manager. It is imperative to know that constituency manager position fell vacant after he fired Ayieko under unclear circumstances.
A Control Freak
TJ is a control freak, which is why most people are abandoning him. He no longer enjoys the support of some of the most experienced opinion leaders like Omondi Alokon, Jaringa and many others. He does not even trust the people who have worked for the party like Nyangi, instead he chooses to work with amateurs like Bitty chi Okeyo.
I’m just politely asking, didn’t his spies tell him the hostility he’s likely to encounter? Where were Jimmy Africa and his team of security that nominated Senator Hon. Ongoro, the Kibra MP Hon. Okoth and the Homabay town MP Opondo Kaluma had to come to his rescue?
In my opinion, Kajwang has lost touch with the best brains in Ruaraka and is now surrounded by young, vacuous and dopey individuals that he can control. This group cannot offer him wise counsel, and this came out clearly last Saturday.
The only sharp brain in that camp Odera Ondiegi is being fought for suggesting that Kajwang will not win a second term. Instead of celebrating the only sensible brain on their side, his academic dwarfs continue to thwart Ondiegi’s efforts to clear their master’s mess. Sooner or later Ondiegi will be fired just like Onyango and Ayieko were. But how many constituency managers will Ruaraka have in one this single term of TJ?
TJ and his battles
No army, no matter how strong can win a battle while fighting on two fronts.
TJ won the Ruaraka seat on ODM ticked on a third attempt after failing in both 2002 and 2007, but he has since made more enemies than friends. This is not only in Ruaraka but also in his home county Homabay. While campaigning for his younger brother the Homabay Senator Hon. Moses Kwajwang, he portrayed himself as a no nonsense individual ready to take even the police head on. Everywhere he went to, there were gun shots!
How sorry was he that his courage was no match to the Nairobi youths who demanded that he leaves. Where were his goons when he was being hunted like a squirrel? Where was his trusted political advisor Ojero or his chief of security to help him out? And what about the “mighty” Ombija?
My Secretary General Hon. Ababu Namwamba often says, an idea whose time has come cannot be stopped, and you cannot apologize for being ahead of your time. I’m ahead of my time, and indeed I see that TJ’s time is up and nobody will stop the people of Ruaraka from showing him the door!
Spunsofts 