When a man thinks he has monopoly over virtue, it does not just make him cantankerous but also dangerous. As if by some switch, he will contradict everybody else with a false sense of self-importance and make every effort to impose his truth even in spheres that have nothing to do with him. Alfred Mutua is such a man.
When IEBC declared him for a second time the governor of Machakos, he set about entrenching a false sense of importance that imposed an unsaid need for those seeking his help to sing his praises as one would a god.
It is a charade that came tumbling when the Appeal court nullified his election last month.
It now emerges that soon after he was sworn in for the second time, Mutua stopped talking with some members of his county assembly; he simply couldn’t make time for them, or stand their presence before him. He had arrived, and they were just in his way.
They stopped existing; he could not shake their hand or allow them in his office. Mutua discovered pride and, with it, delusions of grandeur.
But it is not enough; he now wants to be President. And while it is okay for everyone to dream, such lofty ambitions require certain values that the man simply lacks. An example is humility.
Among those Mutua slighted is Ekalakala MCA Stephen Mwanthi, whom, after the Court’s annulment of Mutua’s win, sponsored a motion to declare the seat vacant.
The Assembly voted to pass with an overwhelming 73% – 43 out of 59. Whether or not this motion stands (this could not be established by the time we went to press), it is a lesson in the transience and vanity of pride. (
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