TRIBUTE TO DAMARIS MBUTHIA

I will not pretend that I was close to the late Damaris Mbuthia the nominated Member of the County Assembly of Nakuru (MCA), who died last month. But I must say I followed her politics, perhaps not closely, and in a way I became her critic and admirer in equal measure.

When I first got to know her she was the Deputy Mayor in Nakuru a seat she used to rise to fame as she out did the then Mayor Mohamed Suraw. Suraw, a man who had difficulty sometimes even in introducing himself just lacked the awe and flow that one would expect of an occupant of a mayoral seat. He was slow and just never seemed to understand issues. 

And here was Damaris, a well built lady of tangible beauty, both physically and intellectually deputizing him. She came with the executive poise that her boss lacked and marched it with exemplary wits. Sometimes I wondered whether it was out of design or default that she represented Suraw in all the meetings in the county. And for sure every comment she made turned out to be well thought and fitting each occasion. Never mind some of the things she said were never implemented thereafter. Its politics Kenyan style.

That should tell you how I viewed Damaris. So when I received news of her death I was saddened. I had for long looked forward to her contribution on debates at the Nakuru county assembly as I knew she had the intellectual muscle to wrestle the men who mostly dominate the floor.

So then I will miss her. 

But I will not miss her because she was a 'great leader'. I will miss her a 'great politician'. Above all I will miss her journalistically - she was a good news source. Damaris was one of the few women made of stuff that makes news. She was easy to notice. She was robust and stylish and in several occasions she was involved, either as a villain or victor, in dramatic scenes that fit the cliché of man bite a dog.

For instance in August 2012 she was allegedly involved in a scuffle where together with other five councilors assaulted Mayor Suraw during their Municipal annual general meeting and elections.

A woman who is ready to do that makes news almost standing out and above all the men who may be involved in the scuffle with her. The reason is, the Kenyan political scenario has been made dangerously patriarchal. Men have used every element of their masculinity to throttle women politicians. To be a woman, and to be ready even to fight physically, and literally doing it, within political circles, is to counter masculine political imbalances. It is to talk back. It is to demand to be seen an equal. It is to be an equal.

But it is also to fail drastically as a leader so much so that although Damaris may score highly as a 'politician,' and that within our local context, she scored poorly as a leader. At least on that aspect.

Every day Kenyans long for sanity in the country's politics and when someone rises to contribute to making the situation even murkier then the person kills the very dream we have conceived. It's very unfortunate that this responsibility is always seen the burden of the women in Kenya less as it is on men. But again, that's our context.

Damaris thus had this reason to rise above the occasion when faced with such challenges and intelligently order the situation to amicable solutions. However she must not be stoned on that only. She did many other things that her a darling among us.

And that's my tribute to Damaris Mbuthia. In her we lost a politician, one who had slowly discovered how to play it the Kenyan way, and who had great potential. In her I also feel the Nakuru media lost a good news source.

For that I will miss her. May her soul rest in peace.