Commentaries

Campaign starts to heat up in South Mugirango, as Magara to face it off with 12 other aspirants

Details

Published on Sunday, 07 February 2010 20:06

IT IS GOING TO BE A TOUGH CHOICE FOR SOUTH MUGIRANGO VOTERS AS 12 HIGH PROFILE INDIVIDUALS JOIN THE RACE SET FOR A JUNE, 2010 BY-ELECTION.

Reports Leo Odera Omolo From Rongo Town

The forthcoming by-election in South Mugirango constituency is going to be the toughest campaign ever seen in the Gusii region in the recent years.

Already twelve {12} high profile individual aspirants have declared their interest in the seat formerly held by the ODM national treasurer, Omingo Magara. Magara’s election in the 2007 as the area MP was nullified by the High Court Judge, Justice Masinga sitting in Kisii law court, on the ground of irregularities.

Magara himself is leading the pack of twelve aspirants, and the rumor making the rounds on the ground paints negative colors, that his chances of clinching the seat are rather deem. This is because of the widely common knowledge that he burned his bridges with the ODM leadership, particularly the party leader, Raila Odinga.

The Orange party is still very popular with the Gusii electorate, and appear to be a hard nut to crack in this constituency by another party. But this will however depend on the strength of the individuals contesting on the party’s ticket after the preliminaries.

Although the Independent Interim Electoral Commission has yet to set the official campaign date rolling, the aspirants were already on the ground at the weekend. They attended funerals and gatherings in marketplaces, schools sports meetings, and other gatherings, ahead of the official campaign time.

The indications on the ground are that the ODM ticket is expected to attract more spirants than any other party.
Reports from the ground say Omingo Magara might not be an easy push over, but still a power to reckon with, if only he gets the blessing of his party leadership. Whether the top brass of ODM are willing to forgive and forget remains to be seen.

But the entry of the former area MP, David Kombo, and Ombasa Apepo, who appear to have done their home work properly, each hoping to clinch the ODM nomination, further complicates things for Magara.

Not to be left out of the equation either is the only woman candidate in the race, Rosemary Obara. She is the chairperson of the Gusii Water and Sanitation Company. If she wins the nomination phase, and go ahead to win the parliamentary contest, she will go down in the history books as the first woman to win a parliamentary seat among the Abagusii people.

The other woman who at one time had became so powerful politically in the region, and contested a parliamentary seat previously, was Mrs Catherine Nyamato, the former nominated MP who contested Mugirango West. Therefore Obara’s candidature could complicate the race for all the male aspirants, as the populous female votes are likely to sway her way.

The teachers fraternity will also be well represented by the KNUT Gucha South branch treasurer, Mr Zebedeo Nyaboga, as well as the retired former High School Principal, Mr. Ibrahim Otoi, who has also declared that he would be in the race for the same seat. Both of them enjoy good rapport with the teachers in the region, and are banking on cashing out on that popularity.

So if it isn’t a history of economic development initiatives that will tilt the decision of the voters, the educational achievement of a contestant will most likely do the trick. For besides teachers, there is also a doctor, and a lawyer. Dr. Ezekiel Okemwa, who is said to be having a good following on the ground, is maximizing on his profession to turn the tables on the other aspirants. Not to be outdone, a Kisii lawyer, Mr David Mugunde, is also counting on his local connections to get him overboard. A Mr. Mauti Sagwe is also in the race.

Yet the man to watch very carefully is Manson Nyamweya, the man who had petitioned the court and ensured Magara’s election was nullified. He is a staunch member of the Nyachae’s Ford People party. He has confirmed that he will contest the by-election on the same party’s ticket.

Nyamweya is a strong candidate and did fairly well during the 2007 general elections. He was mostly betrayed by the fact that the Ford People party de facto leade,r Simeon Nyachae, failed to appear on the ground to conduct the campaign for his party’s candidate. Had Nyachae appeared in any of Nyamweya’s public campaign rallies, things could have changed for the better for this particular candidate. But despite Nyachae’s absence and non-appearance in South Mugirango, his party candidate lost in a respectable position, a clear indication that Nyachae’s party is still a power to reckon with in Gusii politics.

During last Saturday’s burial of Mr. James Ochwando at Nyamarambe, seven aspirants appeared together and launched their campaign. Some were cheered up, while other were jeered and heckled. This is a clear indication that the forthcoming by-elections could breed violence and lawlessness in the area, due to the presence at the campaign rallies of the many drunken political goons.

While the seven launched their campaigns at a funeral near Nyamarambe, their rivals, Apepo and Mayonga, organized for behind the scenes strategic campaign meetings in various hotels within Kisii Municipality, about twenty kilometers away.

All the leading parties like PONU, ODM-Kenya, Ford People, Ford-Kenya, PNU and KANU are expected to sponsor a candidate for this by-election.

One issue which is likely to dominate the campaign is the poor and lackluster performance of Omingo Magara during the last eight years, when he represented the constituency.

The former MP has the worst record on development matters of any MP from the area. And his opponents are expected to hammer on this, as well as on his migratorykind of politics, which showed him to be close to Nyachae at one time, then moving on to Raila Odinga, and now being among the rebel ODM MPs, giving “Agwambo” sleepless nights, in William Ruto’s bandwagon.

As we were going to the press, two other aspirants declared their interests in the seat. They are Mr. Rashid Muyonga, Master Ondora.