Another Ford People, Kanu showdown

Kitutu Chache is one of the constituencies in the three districts of Gusiiland which have always produced high-voltage political showdowns in the run-up to elections every five years.The constituency also holds the record of having had one man representing it in Parliament for an uninterrupted period of twenty-five years. That was the late Dr Zachary Theodore Onyonka.

And while Onyonka used all his political acumen to scorch through the turbulent showdowns from 1969 to the time of his death in October, 1996, the incumbent MP Jimmy Nuru Angwenyi who succeeded him has also been facing a similar rivalry.According to the latest figures from the Electoral Commission of Kenya, there are 63,292 registered voters in Kitutu Chache.

As the General Election approaches in earnest, the main issues that will be flashing through the minds of voters here will not be much different from the past, apart from the Ford People/Simeon Nyachae factor. The items on the agenda as Kitutu Chache voters prepare to go to the polls will rotate around the following issues:Personalities, individual capabilities, clannism, the traditional rivalry between the Mosocho and Marani voters, the wanting educational standards, the controversy-prone tea and coffee industries, the poor state of local roads and the candidates’ financial clout.

Angwenyi who won the early 1997 by-election and then the December 1997 General Election on a Kanu ticket, is now a Ford People proponent and a front-line campaigner for Nyachae’s presidential bid.He is headed for a nail-biting finale with people he cannot underrate in any way going by the tricky trends in this year’s electioneering.

Among those opposing Angwenyi are former Kenya Football Federation (KFF) and CECAFA Secretary-General, long-time Kanu activist Sam Nyamweya, the late Onyonka’s son Richard Momoima Onyonka, James Nyakundi, Leo Matundura, Jacob Nyaburi, Daniel Rasugu Bomba, Justus Mochoge, Orina Momanyi, Samson Mwancha and Justus Miyogo.The regulars, Messrs Nicholas Siro, Charles Bosire and Professor Tumbo Oeri are also said to be warming up for the battle.Angwenyi’s hopes must be leaning on his contributions to development projects, including churches, schools, tea-buying centres, healthy centres and for students pursuing further studies locally and abroad. Kitutu Chache residents have also been loudly complaining about the dismal performance of local schools in national examinations as well as the poor state of the buildings in most institutions, especially the primary schools.

All in all, the campaigns in this constituency may start off with a stormy battle among the aspirants for the Kanu ticket, the gigantic one anticipated between Nyamweya and Onyonka. Nyamweya is a fast-moving, shrewd and wily operative who has been involved in the high political stakes for a long time. Combined with his experience in football administration and the grassroots links he has created, he could carry the day. Onyonka Junior has a fairly impressive background and an amiable nature. If he can live up to the precedents set by his father and cultivate a good rapport with the electorate, then he could make it.

So whoever emerges the victor in the penultimate Kanu battle will face off with Angwenyi in the elections proper.