The Wambui Factor  

Features

By John Kamau

When the Commission of Inquiry into the activities of the infamous so-called Armenian brothers gets under way, a mother and her daughter could be star attractions in its proceedings.

Three reasons account for this: One, as far as the public knows, Ms Mary Wambui has been linked to Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargasyan through her daughter, Winnie Wangui, who was exposed as a business partner of the alleged Armenian mercenaries.

That is dubious distinction Number I. Number II, and which is the second reason, is that President Kibaki has gone on record on more than one occasion to deny the two women are members of the First Family.

The third reason is that Wambui is a high profile political operative in her own right who speaks with authority and whose actions, aura and pronouncements suggest she has connections in Government and the political establishment.

Like her or hate her, the woman the media call Nyeri Narc activist has bestrode local politics like a colossus.

While the saga of the Armenian’s is thought to herald her fall from grace to grass, many also think it could help President Kibaki to reorganise his kitchen cabinet once gain.

The Wambui factor in Kibaki’s Presidency cannot be wished away. Not yet. Before the Armenians’ scandal broke out, Wambui displayed power, opulence and thrill.

Three times now her political and social escapades have seen President Kibaki clarify who the members of his family are. And single-handedly, she has commandeered national politics from a lofty position and yet remains an enigma.

Who is Mary Wambui?

Othaya or Nyeri Narc activist is a title that neither captures the political drama that goes with her name, nor the political literati of her circle.

At the apex of her political-cum-business life she has had State chase cars, fuel guzzling limousines, bodyguards, money and gold.

Hers is a life shaped and curved to suit the moments and is always trailed by the media to capture those epic sideshows.

But can she be written off as she prepares to appear before a commission of inquiry into the saga of the Arturs together with her daughter?

When the final chapter of the Kibaki Presidency is written, Mary Wambui will feature prominently, for the wrong or right reasons.

Close associates say she loved the show until the media found something negative: Her daughter’s involvement with the controversial Armenians whose gangland antics last week threatened to tear the Kibaki Government’s internal security system apart.

Wambui’s Mageta Road residence in Lavington, a palatial house near the Methodist Church, once served as the official residence of the South African High Commissioner Kingsley Mkhubela.

For the better part of last year Mageta Road residents always complained that the road was closed to traffic forcing the City Town Clerk to intervene.

But Mageta Road is not an ordinary road; it was Kenya’s political road to power and might where wheeling and dealing went on unabated.

It is one of the few Nairobi addresses to which politicians and suave businessmen and women trooped to hobnob with one of the most-sought power brokers of the Kibaki Presidency.

In public Wambui hardly cuts the image of a power broker, but thanks to constant media coverage, she has become the face of power eclipsing for some time the First Family.

Ever since Wambui came to the limelight in 2004, she has created her own power base in Nairobi, a move from her humble backyard in Nyeri and entrenched herself as an alternative power broker.

While it was common knowledge that Wambui had edged her way into State House, it was also public knowledge that her presence was creating bad blood between President Kibaki’s long time allies and First Lady Lucy Kibaki.

Mostly allied to Kibaki’s golfing buddies and Democratic Party of Kenya (DP) financiers, Wambui’s rise to stardom was expected.

And when the DP literati (the Muthaiga Group) started fighting the so-called Hurlingham Group led by ministers Kiraitu Murungi and Dr Chris Murungaru for political space in State House, Wambui backed the Muthaiga group against the Kiraitu-Murungaru axis. From then, Wambui was to become a key figure in the State House intrigues that spilled into business.

Despite denials that camps had sprung up inside State House as a result, the first victim of the bad blood between them was then State House comptroller John Matere Keriri. His fall came after President Kibaki’s 2003 Christmas holiday in Mombasa almost came a cropper as the two camps fought for space around the President.

So vicious was the behind-the-scenes battle that First Lady Lucy Kibaki told a public meeting on December 28, 2004, in Mombasa that she was the bridge between the President and other politicians. It was not a statement made out of the blue. Those who understood State House politics knew it was directed at various groupings jostling for political and economic space.

Lucy would occasionally jibe at her critics, saying she was "the most qualified and senior-most woman to talk politics" – a statement that was quite clearly not directed at Maendeleo ya Wanawake.

Although the departure of Keriri from State House in early 2005 meant that Wambui’s then brigades had lost a pivotal position, it also gave the Muthaiga group time to recoup lost energy. In public Keriri’s wife continued to be seen with Wambui, although this was a friendship honed many years back when Wambui was simply known as ‘Wambui wa Kanu’ in her Othaya backyard.

While politics in those early days revolved around how to tame Langata MP Raila Odinga’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the Hurlingham Group wanted President Kibaki to kick Raila out of Government. While Lucy was vocal on the matter Wambui was guarded.

But a new group made up of veteran Democratic Party financiers, and which Wambui identified with, wanted Kibaki to craft a government of national unity (GNU). It was in the crafting of the GNU that Mr Stanley Karuthai Murage was brought into State House as an adviser to the President.

This appointment triggered another round of royal battles, which those privy to the inner workings of State House know.

Soon Wambui emerged as the bedrock of this group, some say the face. From this lofty position she started pulling strings, thanks to her closeness with powerful individuals she had known when she vigorously campaigned for Kibaki during both Kanu and DP days.

Exactly at what point Wambui started benefiting from State protection is not clear, but many say it was shortly after the Narc victory in December 2002.

The unanswered question is why this happened and who was behind it? Although Wambui in December 2003 had claimed to be "Kibaki’s wife" forcing State House on January 6, 2004 to clarify the composition of the President’s family, no action was taken against her.

Interestingly, her public relations wing went into overdrive spinning positive stories about her as Lucy fought hard to fend off negative publicity.

Wambui’s then green Mercedes Benz would become a constant feature in Nyeri and the neighbouring districts. Her rural home in Mahiga and townhouse at Nyeri’s Riverside Drive remained guarded by armed police.

That, many would agree, was not an ordinary Narc activist. During national celebrations Wambui, together with Winnie, would be trailed by armed bodyguards and usually took their seats at the VIP podium.

But with two groups jostling for space only scandals could do them apart. The Anglo Leasing scam came as major bonus for the Wambui camp. It was an opportunity to disperse the group believed to have the First as its political fulcrum. And when push came to shove, Mr Kiraitu Murungi, Dr Chris Murungaru, Mr David Mwiraria, and Mr Alfred Gitonga, then Kibaki’s personal assistant, were shown the door.

While the First Lady has always denied such camps exist, it is instructive to note that those twisting the knife into those implicated in the Anglo Leasing scandal are now taking the heat as Wambui takes the bitter pill of the fall-out from the scandal of the Armenians.

When the Anglo Leasing scandal broke out, Wambui started emerging as the most powerful woman in local politics accompanying ministers, assistant ministers and MPs to fund-raisers – especially in Central and Eastern provinces.

The First Lady appeared to have taken a back seat until Raila branded the Artur brothers mercenaries. It was godsend.

If one group has been watching the collapse of the Wambui power literati with glee it is the victims of Anglo Leasing scandal.

While the most visible personality is perhaps Mr Paul Muite who is Murungaru’s lawyer, it is known that behind the scenes the other camp wants to see President Kibaki take firm action against the Wambui group.

The dismissal of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) Director Joseph Kamau was a score for the Murungaru group, which is still nursing Anglo Leasing bruises. With Kamau out the next push is to have Murage, whose entry into State House caused jitters within the Lucy camp edged out too. Murage’s name has adversely been mentioned in the Armenian saga.

While it is true that the Hurlingham Group went up in smoke after the Anglo Leasing scandal, the Wambui Group, now in flames, may soon scatter depending on the conclusions of the Kiruki Commission of Inquiry. If that happens President Kibaki might be forced to reconstitute his inner circle.

While Wambui’s associates previously hinted that she might run for the Othaya seat (if Kibaki abandons the presidential bid next year) or the Nyeri Town seat, all that may be jeopardised by the Artur drama unless she finds her footing again. But can she?

Her close friends thought that the Anglo Leasing fall-out was a perfect opportunity for Wambui to enter real politics, like the days when she was known in Othaya as ‘Wambui wa Kanu.’ Questions now linger following the drama over the Armenians.

Wambui, who is a board member of several schools in Othaya, may have to fight back but gone will be the days when she used to demand the prosecution of those behind the Anglo Leasing saga.

Interestingly, the Artur saga has stolen the thunder from Anglo Leasing. Thus, Kenyans might witness another shift in the political power base in Kibaki’s State House if he ditches John Michuki (Internal Security minister) or sacrifices George Muhoho, the man who runs Kenya Airports Authority, that gave security passes to the Armenians.

As the Wambui power axis takes the political beating of their lives, the power axis gravitating towards the First Family is having the time of its life.

Within a relatively short time, the Wambui camp appears to have destroyed itself thus forcing the President to constitute a commission of inquiry – something that he did not do with the Anglo Leasing scandal.

Despite denials, the Wambui camp has been strategically perched in State House with key personalities playing as insiders while Wambui became the personality to broker business.

That this may also become her Waterloo is because she was too fast in the ride on the road to destruction. While her comeback is in doubt, her imminent fall could once again lead to another reorganisation of the forces that control the Presidency.