AN OUT OF DATE BEHAVIOR BY A CABINET SECRETARY.

It is now in the public domain that the Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa speaks more politics than water issues which are constitutionally domiciled in his ministry.
Historically, Eugene is well known for the Queen's English, innocent looks and his grand march to State House which never took off. He has been 'in the cold' for more than two years since his last appointment as Justice and Constitutional Affairs Minister during the grand coalition government that was led by Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga. However, being a man not used to political coldness, the learned fellow was hungry for a job.
In retrospect, he was given the hind leg of a ministry and not the entire Environment docket currently under Prof Judi Wakhungu.However, going by the records he has set and the ones he continues to set, Eugene is a good example of what is wrong with governance in Kenya. He is a leader who says one thing and does the complete opposite; a leader behaving badly.
Being a lawyer, the former Saboti MP is neither oblivious nor clueless about what the law says regarding Cabinet secretaries and politics. He knows he is not allowed to  indulge himself in politics as long as he is a Cabinet secretary.Indeed, when he appeared before the Parliamentary Committee on Appointments last year, he stated that he had no interest in engaging in politics if confirmed as the Water and Irrigation Cabinet secretary. He looked so serious and convincing that he persuaded the committee.But now the prophet has turned a liar.
Today, you might be forgiven to think that Eugene Wamalwa is a Jubilee spanner boy. He speaks more politics than the president and his deputy.He is also likely to grace televisions and newspapers talking about Luhya unity and Jubilee Party than water or irrigation policies.The man from the land of 'mlembe' is today a full-time politician and a part-time Cabinet secretary. You might think that the CS should be more concerned with the game-changer Galana-Kulalu irrigation project.However, he is busy rallying the Luhya nation to join Jubilee and reminding CORD leader Raila Odinga that his ‘honeymoon’ with the region is over.
When Ipsos announced that most CORD supporters sleep hungry, he probably saw politics, not the agony of millions of people sleeping hungry because they come from the rain-deficit areas of Nyanza and Ukambani.Wamalwa would be best described as a political chameleon since he knows how to camouflage and ensure he blends well with the existing environs.What he might lack in political clout he makes up for in eloquence and mastery of the Queen’s language and then completes the circuit with serious but innocent looks.
When he is not huffing and puffing Jubilee politics, he is busy dismissing presidential bids of Amani National Congress leader Musalia Mudavadi and his Ford-Kenya counterpart Moses Wetang’ula.He makes judgments about the western votes but his kinsmen don't take him seriously because they know him;he preaches water but takes wine.The CS does not have the interest of the western people in heart. Some say that he is in the league of those playing politics of the stomach.
“Our community has barely two million voters yet we are the second most populous in Kenya. To make it worse, there are so many candidates fighting for the few votes. They cannot make it to State House,” he told leaders from West Pokot at his Kitale home.
If memory serves us right, we should remember that the CS led a delegation of Luhya leaders to Deputy President William Ruto’s home in Sugoi. You can bet your life if not sportpesa it was not to discuss water and irrigation matters which rightfully reside within his jurisdiction.

In the Cabinet, Wamalwa has made a name as the government's most ardent defender.In the face of a political tussle or a duel with the Opposition, Eugene forgets about water and irrigation issues and finds himself fiercely defending the government of the duo he truly loves and at whose behest he can willingly commit suicide. He even makes other Cabinet secretaries like Najib Balala and Charles Keter, who were also politicians, look like novices.
Funnily enough, when the Jubilee government hit the road in 2013,President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto said they would be the only politicians in the cabinet.But this was before Eugene Wamalwa joined the cabinet.When asked why he engages in politics, he said: "The constitution only stops me from holding a political office."
So as fellow lawyers would say,'The learned fellow is 'seized' of the matter.'
Charles Domnic