Will ‘Jenerali’ Namwamba surrender as plot thickens?

Those who saw Ababu Namwamba on the day he was set to be dethroned as chairman of the Public Accounts Committee say he looked scared. On that day, the Budalang’i MP, a man who craves media attention only when he needs it, used a side door and vanished.

He survived the ouster then, but that matter was not over yet. Thursday evening, Speaker Justin Muturi ordered a probe into the corruption allegations at PAC.

Ababu came into the limelight when he started running a low key outfit, Chambers of Justice, which was campaigning for fair trade practices and debt cancellation around 2001 and 2002. One could easily sense that the man had taste and sense of elegance.

The Narc election and the fallout between former President Mwai Kibaki and former Prime Minister Oginga Odinga saw Ababu, then a columnist with The Sunday Standard, become one of the chief critics of the Narc regime as he built his profile in his Budalang’i back yard.

While he won a parliamentary seat in the controversial 2007 General Election, Ababu’s style of politics emerged after he refused to pledge allegiance to President Kibaki and instead swore loyalty to Mr Odinga, a move that earned him instant rebuke from Party of National Unity (PNU) members. He was forced to take the oath as prescribed.

Social media buzz

It is this controversy and survival that has become part of Ababu’s political career.

Last year he created a buzz on social media when he posted photos of him and his wife having fun at the Taj Mahal monument in India.

The picture trended on social media, eliciting sharp reaction from the public on why he had turned an official visit into a family outing. Ababu had travelled to India with a parliamentary team to investigate the procurement of electoral equipment by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).

Meanwhile, he took time to take pictures with his wife Prisca and tagged the public. But hate him or love him, Ababu says in his mini-biography on his website that God and his family stand at the centre of his universe.

A man who loves local music, if the ringback tune on his phone is anything to go by, and a showman — he calls himself Jenerali — the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) MP got a brief ministerial appointment to be in charge of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Although he got a chance at Bunge FC, where he was the secretary and top scorer for the team, recent events indicate that he is becoming a survivor in the game of politics. An ardent supporter of Arsenal FC, Ababu also touts himself as a philanthropist via his Ababu Namwamba Foundation.

Journalists have a different view of him though. “He can at times choose to talk or not to,” said a parliamentary reporter.

Another added that since the motion of no-confidence in him came up, he has been cranky with the media. When we reached him for an interview, he was calm and polite on phone but did not honour our interview and did not pick our calls after that.

His second term in the House saw him bestowed with the active role of Parliamentary Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman, a position that has brought him more heat than when he sought to become the Secretary-General of ODM — a move that almost divided his party.

For the last two weeks, Ababu has been troubled by accusations touching on his integrity as chair of Parliament’s most important committee. He maintains that the assertions are a political witch-hunt from both sides of the House, adding that he is blameless and he is ‘‘as clean as snow’’.

Last week, the sharply dressed politician survived a Motion of no-confidence when two committee members abstained from voting. But MPs are not yet done with him.

On Tuesday, nine PAC members sought a fresh impeachment.

The young politician who cuts a figure of an orderly and well informed legislator, said he was not afraid of the impeachment move; adding that MPs plotting his ouster were wasting their time.

This is not the first time for the man who often feels that he is above reproach to come close to being toppled.

In 2013 he survived losing his seat after the High Court in Busia upheld his election following an application by one of the candidates. But is he really the proverbial cat with nine lives?

The alumnus of American University Washington College of Law, where he studied Constitution and International Human Rights Law, is a beneficiary of a string of scholarships — Hubert Humphrey Fellow, alumnus of Fulbright Scholarship and receiver of a scholarship from Jomo Kenyatta Foundation.

Ababu’s ambition and inspiration in politics is no doubt equal to his idol — Jaramogi Oginga Odinga. On his online mini-biography he reveals that Jaramogi’s autobiography, Not yet Uhuru, aroused his interest in politics. Ababu started off as a school captain at Kolanya Boys High School, Busia County, and was later involved in youth affairs at Ford-Kenya, an opposition party.

He became a student leader in 1996 while studying law at the University of Nairobi (UoN). His active role as chairman of the Kenya Law Students Society marked yet another milestone in his political life.

He got the privilege to mingle with influential leaders, including post-election violence mediator Kofi Annan and US president Barack Obama.

UoN also gave him an opportunity to keenly follow national politics. Eight years later he became a volunteer in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The party at the time had joined the Grand Coalition — Narc, which was determined to end Kanu’s 24-year rule.

The five-year period had served as a good learning ground for Ababu, for in 2006 he declared his intention to vie for the Budalang’i parliamentary seat.

He ousted Raphael Wanjala in the 2007 General Election, marking his grand entry into national politics. He ran again in 2013 and won, still on the ODM ticket.

However, of late Ababu has become vocal on ODM succession politics. Some feel that he is ready to take a vital leadership role in the party. His age also gives him an edge over aging party politicians. He is only 40.

But that might wait a bit, for now he is content serving as Secretary-General of the Eastern Africa Association of Public Accounts Committees and African Organisation of Public Accounts Committees.

He is also a commissioner with the Kenya National Audit Commission.

The self-assured politician says he believes in walking an unbeaten path and leaving a trail. Honesty is one of the values he says guides him. But this remains to be seen.

Will the son of Lwecheche and Mama Agatha Maina Namwamba survive another censure motion? Only time will tell if Ikholo (loosely ‘Our clansman’), as he is fondly referred to, will overcome hurdles in his path and get back to his watchdog role.

Ababu, a father of four and the last born in a family of eight, was born in Uganda but grew up in Kenya and Uganda.