ABC of Waibara’s reading troubles

A decision that Gatundu North MP Clement Kung’u Waibara made as a young man is becoming a source of discomfort, frustration and ridicule for him.

It has affected not only the youthful and usually smartly dressed MP, but also his father.

Former Vice-President Kijana Wamalwa would have described Mr Waibara as a man of “humble educational background”, a situation that has become the subject of a court case and debate in his constituency and beyond.

A voter has launched a petition to nullify his election and hence evict him from Parliament if the court finds that he lacks the proficiency in English and Kiswahili to enable him to take part in House debates.

The MP also faces another case in which he has denied a charge of conspiracy to murder a petitioner.

And whenever issues concerning his educational background come up in court, the MP becomes fidgety and begins to wipe his palms.

Mr Waibara, who was born in Mitero village in Gatundu North 39 years ago, attended Gikindu primary school.

He then proceeded to Gikindu, Makuyu and Kiserian Seminary but opted out in Form Three.

The decision has come to haunt him many years later and puts him at the risk of losing a coveted parliamentary seat.

And his father is angry. “I wanted to educate him up to university, but he let me down.

“He dropped out of school and abandoned the Sh5,000 in fees I had paid for him at Makuyu secondary school,” said Mr Josephat Waibara Kung’u, a retired secondary school head teacher.

Photographer

He said the MP ran away from home to avoid school. After leaving school, Mr Waibara worked as a freelance photographer in Gatundu.

But the MP has told the High Court that he did not complete school due to lack of school fees, a claim that his father denies.

“I was salaried. I was a headmaster, and I could not fail to pay fees for my son,” the father said.

The MP, who is yet to make his first speech in Parliament, has admitted in court that he dropped out of school while in Form Three.

He denied a suggestion by the petitioner’s lawyer Muthomi Thiankolu that he was expelled from school for fighting a teacher.

There was a spectacle in court when the MP was given a copy of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education results slip by Mr Thiankolu and asked to read them aloud.

Mr Waibara refused, compelling the judge to threaten jailing him for contempt of court.

“If you decline to read the results, then remember I will hold you in contempt and you know the consequences,” Mr Justice Fred Ochieng warned.

Defence lawyer Evans Ondieki protested against the move, but the judge held his ground: “He must read otherwise I will jail him for contempt.”

“But that is intimidation,” Mr Ondieki retorted. “No, it’s not. He will have to read the results. Can you read now? Otherwise you have yourself to blame,” the judge warned.

The MP lifted the results slip and started reading with eyes squinted. In one of the subjects, the MP read out that he had scored a “D-star” instead of a “D-plus” causing laughter in court.

He caused further laughter when he said he had wanted to become a priest when he was at Kiserian seminary secondary school.

At the last hearing Mr Waibara was handed a copy of a text taken from a book titled The Art of Seduction by Robert Green and a copy of Taifa Leo to read aloud in court.

The move by Mr Thiankolu was again vehemently opposed by Mr Waibara’s lawyer.

Mr Ondieki told the judge that the aim of the petitioner was to “ridicule, humiliate and embarrass the Honourable Member of Parliament”.

He said the court was not an examination class. He said the Constitution does not allow one to be discriminated against on a language basis.

“No one can be discriminated on account of his language,” Mr Ondieki stated. He protested that the petitioner was ambushing the MP with documents by giving him copies of reading material to read aloud in court.

“We feel harassed by the conduct of the petitioner’s lawyer. He should have given us copies of the reading material to acquaint ourselves with.

“The MP has said that he understands English and can read it. He also understands Kiswahili and he communicates,” Mr Ondieki told the judge.

Mr Ondieki at one time threatened to withdraw from the case alleging the court was applying double standards.

He also questioned the legibility of the articles, saying they were too faint and “that there was darkness in the dock from where the MP was reading”.

The MP read the two texts with difficulty, but he caused laughter when he pronounced the number 56 in English instead of saying hamsini na sita in Kiswahili.

As he read the English text with difficulty, the judge interjected: “Mr Thiankolu, do you need to have the MP read further?” The MP then stopped reading and stared at the crowd blankly.

The MP’s lawyer went on to tell the judge that Mr Waibara sat the language proficiency test before the defunct Electoral Commission Election Board and that he was cleared and given a certificate.

As a measure to show the MP was competent and that he actually sat the language test, Mr Ondieki produced in court Mr Fredrick Iraya, who was one of the seven board members of the language test.

Mr Iraya took the court through the process of testing a person’s capability to grasp debate. He said normally a candidate is given a text in English and Kiswahili to read, then asked questions to test his/her understanding.

Mr Ondieki said the MP has been participating in parliamentary proceedings and “that he had produced copies of the Hansard to prove he has been contributing to Parliamentary proceedings’’. (READ: Editor summoned to court in Waibara case)

He said the Hansard was dated November 13, 2009, which fell on a Friday, a day that Parliament does not sit.

Mr Ochieng has summoned Parliament’s Hansard Editor to appear before him on June 8, 2011 to clear the air on the authenticity of the disputed report.

Then Mr Waibara admitted in court: “ I have never made my maiden speech since 2008.” He was responding to a question by Mr Thiankolu.

“Have you made your maiden speech since 2008?”

“No I have not,” he replied.

“Do you know what a maiden speech is?” Mr Thiankolu asked the MP.

“Yes I do,” he replied.

IIEC lawyer Ben Mukuria asked the court to adhere to the law in deciding whether the MP can read the texts passed on to him by the petitioner.

Mr Thiankolu said no one wants to embarrass the MP, but the “central issue is whether he is capable of participating in public debate’’.

A voter, Bernard Chege Mburu, who has filed the petition seeking nullification of Mr Waibara’s election, says the MP, who is the first respondent in the case, cannot ably represent the people of Gatundu North because of the language hitch.

Besides education, Mr Mburu lists bribery and violence as other grounds to be considered by the court when deciding the suit.

The MP insisted that he took the proficiency test, but his best man Martin Ndung’u Kahura testified that he sat the language examination on behalf of the MP on November 1, 2007.

The MP said he sat the exam some time in December 2007. Mr Kahura told the judge that they plotted how he would sit the exam in a city restaurant known as Dancing Spoon.

Present was Mr Iraya who denied categorically having met Mr Kahura. He allegedly used the MP’s national identity card when he appeared before the language board.

Known to shy away from the limelight and even avoid public rallies, Mr Waibara has on a few occasions attracted media attention for championing issues affecting his electorate.

For instance in August 2009, the MP vowed he would settle 1,000 families living in the Kieni forest of Gatundu North District.

He had promised to allocate each family five acres of the forest land, accusing the government of ignoring the plight of the squatters whom he said have been living in harsh conditions for 16 years “without proper shelter, medical care or any means of livelihood’’.

The squatters have been living in the forest since they were evicted from their homes in Molo District in the 1992/1993 ethnic clashes in the Rift Valley Province.

Mr Waibara was in the news again in September the same year, this time accusing the police of failing to arrest members of a killer gang that had slaughtered at least 10 people in the constituency within the span of a few months.
He said the hired hit-men were targeting certain families and among those killed were six relatives from Mang’u and Miteero villages, yet no suspect was arrested.

The MP’s rivals accuse of him of failing to contribute towards important parliamentary debates and doing nothing for Gatundu North.

Regarding his performance scorecard, Mr Waibara insists that he has initiated many development projects since he was elected.

He cites the Thika-Gakoe road currently under repair as one of his major achievements, among others.