2007 Elections
Abagusii at political crossroads
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- Published on Saturday, 16 June 2007 14:22
At the moment, the battle for State House appears to be shaping up in a two-horse race between the Orange Democratic Movement of Kenya (ODM-K) and Narc Kenya which various ethnic communities have began staking their political interests in.However, the Abagusii community straddling parts of Nyanza Province which is also home to the Luo and Kuria is yet to show any serious alignment to the political outfits.The community, which in the 2002 poll voted overwhelmingly for the Simeon Nyachae-led Ford People, is now at the political crossroads. Unlike in 2002 when the they voted for Nyachae, for the presidency, political pundits from the community say the electorate in the area may not put the votes in one basket in the 2007 General Election.
Since Independence political battles in Kisiiland have largely been dictated by strong loyalties. The big clans have always wanted to dominate and dictate the community’s political destiny. Even during the one party system, the community was at least divided into two camps. The camps were obviously lead people whom the local electorate perceived as the community’s political bigwigs. In the earlier days of independence the battle lines were drawn between Omonyaribari and Omogetutu. Nyaribari has produced people like the late James Nyamweya and Andrew Omanga. Others from the clan (Nyaribari) who have at one time dictated the political path for the community in recent times include Nyachae and former Nyaribari Masaba Member of Parliament Prof Sam Ongeri. The Bogetutu have had sons like the late Dr Lawrence Sagini and the late Dr Zachariah Onyonka.
All these leaders never saw eye to eye because of their quest for political supremacy in the in the region and need please their party/political bosses. Wealth has also contributed much on which side the community leans politically.
Over the years, the Abagusii have been inured to all forms of violence. They have been subjected to the brutal and bloody forms involving the amachumas (militia armies) and the subtlest forms of psychological violence-poverty and want. This has been the case in order for the wealthy with political ambitions to carry the day. However, with the high rate of literacy in the region, the young elite have discovered the trick and are sensitizing the community on their democratic rights.
During the last polls, Ford People was the first party to nominate its presidential candidate. Nyachae was endorsed as the party’s flag bearer unopposed at the party’s Delegates Conference (NDC) held in Limuru.This made the party popular in Gusiiland and attractive to the Omogusii, who readily warmed up to have a son of their own ascend to the country’s presidency.
However, not the entire community rallied behind Nyachae as diehard Kanu supporters led by Prof Ongeri refused to be swayed by the Ford People euphoria that swept through the region.But they all lost to Ford People wave. During the 2002 campaigns Nyachae urged the community to cast their votes in “a three piece suit” meaning the President, MP and Councillors from one party, and in this case Ford People.
Earlier, the party had a tough moment in nominations of candidates to vie on both the civic and parliamentary seats in the region. Most of the parliamentary and civic seats aspirants wanted to run on the party’s ticket and this gave Nyachae an edge in shaping the political destiny for the community. But as the Secretary-General of the Labour Party of Kenya (LPK), Walter Nyambati puts it, Ford People is no longer popular in the region as MPs who were voted in on its ticket have let the community down by failing to deliver on the promises. The party conducted its nominations for the parliamentary elections using both the secret ballot and queue voting systems. The top party leadership gave the prerogative to party elders at the grassroots to choose between the methods depending on the resources at hand. The party’s nominations in Kisii-Nyanza were bedeviled by violence and many people were injured in skirmishes involving survival supporters.
As the country warms up to the next elections, we got hold of those who have in the past shaped the politics and those who intend to do the same in 2007. Since the 2002 election, it has been Nyachae’s believe that the outcome of the poll was a breakthrough in Kisii politics and a foundation of Omogusii’s status political. He has over time and again said that elections the community has enriched itself politically, adding that the Abagusii have matured politically and are able to read the political moods and this will help them make independent political decisions in the future.
Nyachae observes that the community should always consider working as a team because it is only through unity that the Omogusii can achieve human basic needs. “Our coming together through Ford People has enabled the community to achieve a lot in terms of development. The unity of the current Kisii MPs has created a big impact in the community both in economic and social lines, he asserts. The other Ford People MP are; Jimmy Angwenyi (Kitutu Chache) Zebedeo Opore (Bonchari), Mwancha Okioma (Kitutu Masaba), Joel Onyancha (Bomachoge) and Stephen Manoti ( Bobasi).
Nyachae urges leaders from the community who are out to dismantle the Omogusii unity to rethink their stand and sacrifice their selfish ambitions in order to save the wrath that is likely to befall the community after next year. “Some of our sons are out cheating the community to jump into various parties and the end result will be dividing Omogusii who is united to fight for the community rights,” Nyachae told us.
Prof Ongeri, who is the Kanu leader in the region calls for the unity of the community as a major foundation that will put Omogusii in the next government. “I don’t want to personalise Gusii politics but with the political situation in the country, the community needs to move together in to get a share of the national cake,” said the former Nyaribari Masaba MP. He cautions leaders from the community who have since hijacked the whole process and purport to be speaking for the community, adding that the unity of Omogusii would only be achieved through consultations which should include all the entire Abagusii leadership and the electorate. “We will respect the community’s decision with the full mandate which will come in through mutual understanding of Omogusii, but for now I urge them to wait and see who is who that is vying on which ticket,” said Ongeri.
He says at present Kanu carries the day in Gusiiland because Ford People MPs have failed to deliver on the proposals they gave out before they were elected into office. “Kanu has a successful story in Gusiiland, both the referendum and the recent visit by party Secretary General William Ruto drew the lines on who is who in all the ten Kisii constituencies,” he laments. Prof Ongeri, however, says he doesn’t underrate Ford People and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which also command some fraction of the electorate. But, he regrets that ODM-K is yet to hold waters in the region.
And Dr Hezron Manduku who dislodged Prof Ongeri in Nyaribari Masaba concurs with him that leaders together with the electorate need to consult extensively before settling for any political camps that have emerged. “A decision through wide consultations amongst the community will help defeat all the odds. This has been brought out by Ford People unity which through consultation led the community to join the Government of National Unity. Our union after the 2002 elections has realised major development projects in the community,” says Dr Manduku.
Dr Manduku says Nyachae as the leader of Ford People and a key personality in Gusii has done a lot to the unity and development of Omugusii. He says Nyachae is the only Kisii leader who has managed to secure all the ten-Kisii parliamentary seats. The party is to reveal its strategic plan in December this year and there after will seek a coalition which should be based on a memorandum of association, according to James Kenani, the Nyaribari Chache branch secretary.
But Nairobi lawyer and the chairman of the Kenya Republican Formation Party, Kennedy Okong’o believes that exit of Nyachae from the political scene as he had intimated three months ago will be an awakening era for the Abagusii. Okong’o regrets that the tribal card that the community played in 2002 polls in favour of Nyachae proved counterproductive as even Ford People MPs who were co-opted into the Government of national unity have done very little to their constituents.“The Abagusii have only benefited from the national development agenda of President Kibaki’s Government and not as a result of Ford People’s partnership in the Government of National Unity,” he observes.
According to Okong’o, the community should not focus on political parties but individuals’ development track record in the next elections. He says the community needs to embark on a generation hand over, adding that the community is still being dominated by the old guard. “We need a new crop of leaders with an enlighted local and national agenda that will address the myriad of problems bedevilling the electorate, especially the many unemployed youth. And the next election presents this opportunity, which the community should not squander at the alter of handouts and clannism,” Okongo says. He believes it is time for the community to replace the current crop of politicians from the area with new ones who can infuse new energy in the management of the locals affairs.
Josiah Oumo, also a lawyer says the Abagusii are tired of recycling a clique of old guards who lack a vision for the community. “Gusiiland for a long time has had a record of recycling old personalities who have served in the various governments and retired without leaving a mark for the community. The community should learn to censure such individuals on their previous records before they elect them again,” said Oumo. Omogirango has three seats- West Mugirango, South Mugirango and North Mugirango which also comprises Borabu. Henry Obwocha, the West Mugirango MP who is also the Planning and National Development has been tipped as the next spokesman for Omogusii. The South has Omingo Magara who is the national treasurer of ODM- K and his seat has been among the election hotbeds in the region. Here it is no different with all other Gusii constituencies where the voting pattern since time immemorial has been determined by clanism.
The 2007 parliamentary elections are already curved on stone. The incumbent MP Omingo Magara has a tough battle a head. Some of the contestants who have declared their interest in his seat in the 2007 election are Josiah Omambia Oumo and Manson Nyamweya of Kanu. Former area MP Silvester Nyakweba Ayieko alleges that Magara has failed to unite the locals. Nyakweba who represented South Mugirango in the early 70s said that Magara’s late brother Nyankieya would have managed to foster the Omogirango and at the same time spearhead its development.
Magara’s leading role in the ODM-K has also ruffled feathers among other key politicians from the region who joined the party to successfully vote down the draft constitution at last year’s referendum.But Okong’o says such dissent is misplaced and only takes the community back to the debate of whether the Abagusii requires a tribal chief or not. “He (Magara) has said he doesn’t want to be the community’s spokesman and his role in the ODM-K is a result of his parliamentary seat. If need arises for the Abagusii to have a spokesman then the question to be answered is the criteria to be used in deciding who becomes such a leader,” he says.
And there is no single time that Omogusii has chosen a spokesman, those who have emerged only come in through actions, says Ongeri.
