Kamangu and His Yellow-Checked Suit

Bishop Wanjiru was supposed to get married to her South African fiancee on February 10th. The courts stepped in and blocked the wedding, saying that James Kamangu's case had to be heard first.

Kamangu, as I've already noted, is a simple man: a cobbler and potter, who wanted nothing more than to have Wanjiru admit that she used to be his wife, and to stop dragging his name through the mud.

That was the old Kamangu.

The new Kamangu wears a yellow-checked suit, slick tie, walks into the courtroom with an army of lawyers, and now declares that he wants the courts to recognize his marriage to Wanjiru and give him his "marital rights" (i.e. bedroom rights).

How did old Kamangu become new Kamangu? Politics!

A group calling itself Maendeleo ya Wanaume (The Development of Men), rushed to his side and started talking about legal action. Some commentators argued that Kamangu had a legal case and he should take action, despite him publicly saying that he wasn't interested.

And, one can't help but wonder, did Wanjiru's political opponent, Maina Kamanda, who obviously has a stake in seeing this drama stretched out for as long as possible, have anything to do with it? While I haven't seen any reports explicitly linking Kamanda with support for Kamangu's case, there can be no doubt that he privately supports the mess, trying to keep Wanjiru's name dirty before the election.

The residents of Starehe constituency find themselves choosing between the troubled minister of sports and the over-scrutinized bishop. Voters seem stuck between a rock and a hard place. And that, my friends, is politics!