Bukhungu stadium was my home for two years from 1979 to 1981 when I joined Nairobi University. I was at Kakamega High School and I loved sports as the captain of the field hockey team but everybody in Kakamega and Kenya knew about the Green Commandos, the Kakamega High School football team.
They just didn’t just kick ass at the high school level and win national championships under coach Chris Makokha but they also produced national heroes for the Kenyan national team. Muhanji their goalkeeper became one the best in the country in 1988.
Bukhungu stadium was the home of the Green Commandos in big tournaments even though we had a pretty good field at the school. But on big days with big games, Kakamega fans of the Greens wanted them at Bukhungu.
Chris and the Greens won ten national championships in a row and his philosophy in football was “Boooys let the ball kiss the ground”.
Later as the coach of the national football Chris Makokha took the Kenyan team to AFCON in 1988
There are so many things to love about Kakamega town. I liked the market where we could buy any kind of food.
There is Kakamega forest. It is incredibly big. I hope the land grabbers have not destroyed it.
There is Kakamega forest. It is lovely to be there and I have been there a lot.
The town is surrounded by a very good agricultural producing area. They produce everything and me I loved to buy boiled maize.
And that is why I was so mad when I wake up in my dorm at the school one morning and my mother is sitting next to my bed and all the boys are singing “Mother’s boy” “Mother’s boy” and laughing all over the dorm.
I ask my mother why she came all the way because from Bondo my home it takes a whole day to travel to Kisumu and then to Kakamega.
My mother tells me she brought me boiled maize because she knows how much I like them.
I told her I can buy boiled maize outside my door because the Kakamega folks grow it all over.
Do you think my mother cared about that? No.
She just wanted to see her son and bag him. I could take that any day of the week but my mother could be something else. She just let you know she is there and there is nothing you can do about it.
I told the laughing boys to get lost but as soon as my mother left they were back trying to find out what my mother brought and they want to eat it right away.
And the twists and turns on the Azimio Bukhungu event are just hilarious.
Read:The political season is now on, It is too hot and we need to cool it down
First was that Malalah chap talking about banning any meeting there. That was not even worth a laugh. It was just dumb and he knew it.
This is the sad Malalah gimmick show which was attended by none other than William Ruto.
Mudavadi not showing up to me is not a big deal. Mudavadi will navigate his way into the political formations that will define the 2022 General Elections. He has a right to do that at his will and pace. Same with Moses Wetangula.
I have a weird relationship with Wetangula. We were at Nairobi University at the same time. He was a law student. I was doing my accounting but I was more known as one of the radical student leaders fighting to bring multi-party to Kenya. Wetangula was not in that mode at college.
Then after the coup attempt in 1982, Moses Wetangula was one of the very few lawyers who defended the alleged coup plotters. I have a lot of respect for him for doing that.
Kiraitu Murungi also defended my best friend Onyango Oloo in his appeal against a five-year sentence imposed on him just for having a paper entitled ” A Plea to Comrades”. Oloo and Kiraitu won that appeal case.
So the big drama about Luhya leaders like Mudavadi and Wetangula being at the Azimio Western Launch in Bukhungu is really a none issue.
And then there was the desperate hope by Ruto Twitter noisemakers like Miguna Miguna that there were no people at the stadium to meet Raila and his allies.
I don’t want to pay much attention to these noises but they scream at themselves so loudly you have to help them calm down.
Miguna was screaming “where are the pictures from Bukhungu”
So here is one of the pictures to help these people deal with themselves.
The Ruto dream squad has a few options left in their playbook. First, it would help them to acknowledge the fact that their guy Ruto has been campaigning for four years and was leading the race against himself.
Then Raila comes to the campaign in October and three months later we have a tied race with all the prospects looking very good for Raila.
But here are some of the hopes for the Ruto squad. One they keep saying Raila is being played by Uhuru. At this time that idea is just too stupid to bother with. Kenyans know where Uhuru and Raila stand. They will choose if they like it. That is for the voters.
The other hope and talking point for the Ruto twitter warriors is that OKA will not join Azimio and that will kill Azimio. Nonsense. OKA leaders as I have said here will make their choices but it frankly wouldn’t be a defining issue in the 2022 General Elections.
My thinking is that Raila has to treat the OKA leaders with respect and accept whatever political choices they make.
Then the last issue is the Political Parties Act 2021. Ruto’s 160 M.Ps have been nowhere to be seen in voting in parliament. This matter is going to be resolved next week.
Read: DP Ruto: There are 160MPs who are supporting UDA
The new Act doesn’t favor any political party.
It just provides an opportunity for aspirants and leaders at the local level to determine their own political vehicle and for them and Kenyans to make whatever choice they want for the presidency.
In fact, the new Parties Act gives Ruto a perfect opportunity to work with like-minded people to him like Okoth Obado who has his own party.
For me, the new law looks very good for Raila Odinga as our next president. But that is just me. Kenyans will make that call.
There is a lot of Ruto grappling out there now hoping Mudavadi has switched to UDA. In reality that will be decided in April to June next year.
But if Mudavadi was to succumb to Ruto it could even be better for Raila when Kenyans realize they actually have a president who will stand for the country when others are bowing to William Ruto.
When Cleo Malalah becomes your hero as some Ruto boys now believe you have a problem.
But it could be a good problem for Raila.
Adongo Ogony is a Human Rights Activist and a Writer who lives in Toronto, Canada
