A parable is told about seven children who were given one large blanket to cover themselves from the cold in the night. A few among them were selfish and wanted to have the bigger portion for themselves. They all began pulling the blanket,with each one of them wanting his share. Each pulled hard till the blanket began tearing. In the end the blanket was in tatters and they all slept in the cold.

As the country recovers from the post-election turmoil, Gusii residents have turned their focus to local Members of Parliament, with high expectations that the legislators will unite the community or they will tear it apiece, just like the children in the parable. All the MPs, save George Nyamweya, battled it out in the last General Election. Nyamweya was handed a nomination slot for his tireless efforts and self-sacrifice in steering the President Mwai Kibaki's re-election campaigns.

The election was unique in that some influential leaders, including Ford People leader Simeon Nyachae and former Nyaribari Chache MP were sent packing, perhaps an indication that the electorate had become tired of politicians who were performing below average.

And in came new faces like Dr Robert Monda who floored Nyachae. Henry Obwocha was defeated in his bid for the West Mugirango seat by Dr James Gesami while Walter Nyambati and Momoima Onyonka defeated Mwancha Okioma and Jimmy Angwenyi in Kitutu Masaba and Kitutu Chache respectively.

Chris Obure made a come back in Bobasi after flooring his perennial rival Stephen Manoti, Charles Onyancha beat Zebedeo Opore in Bonchari while Education Minister Prof Sam Ongeri trounced Dr Hezron Manduku to clinch Nyaribari Masaba seat. Wilfred Ombui, another new political comer sent Godfrey Masanya from the North Mugirango/ Borabu seat.

In the entire land, only Orange Democratic Movement treasurer Omingo Magara (South Mugirango) and Bomachoge MP Joel Onyancha convinced their voters to give them another five-year term in the august House.

It is three months after the politicians were mandated to lead the community but questions are already being raised over their commitment to fulfilling their development vows to the electorate, with critics observing that many of the MPs have started their work on the wrong foot. A number of them have already become unreachable both physically and electronically. "Our MP has already built himself an ivory tower and are inaccessible. He is always shielded by misleading sycophants.

Though he has not changed his cell phone numbers, he is very selective on which call he answers," a voter was heard to complain after several attempts to reach his MP. Others, the Sunday Times established, have changed their numbers and suddenly become inaccessible to an extent that they are simply unreachable by the very voters who changed their status on December 27. Concerns have also been raised over the way the legislators distributed nomination seats to civic leaders.

Dr Gesami, for instance, was recently taken to task by elected councillors for nominating his relative, though not from his clan, to Nyamira County Council. He, just like his colleagues, 'inherited" a constituency that had been polarized by clan politics, with a larger section of the constituents (Abagichora, Abanyamatuta and other minor clans feeling that Obwocha's reign had sidelined them, to the advantage of his Basamaro clan.

He faces an uphill task of balancing the sectarian interests of the his Abagichora clan and the rest of the people in the delivery of service to make a mark to ensure his re-election in the 2012 contest. In the meantime, a number of his constituents, perhaps bitter with Abasamaro, want the MP to give the Obwocha clan a development blackout so that it suffers in equal measure.

Gesami though, must live beyond such outdated ideologies and strive to unite the whole constituency so that its people regard themselves as one large family. While it has been observed that at least four of the legislators are Parliamentary juveniles, concern is mounting on Prof Ongeri, Obure and Magara to lead the way in steering the community to the next level.

The MPs, save Prof Ongeri, recently made a tour to the community and made stop overs at Ekerenyo (North Mugirango) where at least 1,200 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are sheltered and later Nyamarambe (South Mugirango) where they displayed their commitment to work as a team, regardless of their political party affiliations and interests for the sake of the community.

Prof Ongeri's absence of course raised eye blows, with word doing the rounds that the other ten were sidelining him, remarks that have since been denied by all MPs. who said the the Minister had been unable to attend because of official duties.

The Nyaribari Masaba MP who has since declared interest for Deputy Premier seat is currently the oldest MP from the area and enjoys respect across the community and he is therefore being looked upon by the community and the newly elected MPs to provide guidance on the way forward in the new political dispensation for the community.

His participation in the former UN boss Kofi Annan led mediation talks boosted his political standing, both nationally and locally. He was also the first MP from Gusii to shout hard in Parliament that his people had been; "butchered and ostracized" in the post-poll mayhem for exercising their democratic rights.

True to his word, the community did not vote for the Presidency as a block and their democratic right was rewarded with chaos as Abagusii who were living outside their ancestral homes were uprooted from their homes, their property destroyed and several lives lost.

The community was literally under siege from its Luo Nyanza and the Rift Valley neighbours, attracting world attention, thanks to the foreign media. The Borabu-Sotik-Buret-Bomet border became a battle zone for weeks, giving Ombui sleepless nights as he struggled to salvage his people from destruction.

According to local observers, Ombui who quit a teacher's sacco and dived into competitive politics literally underwent a baptism of fire, thanks to the violence that was being meted on his constituents. Though he never enjoyed support from Borabu because some locals were of the view that the larger North Mugirango be split, the MP handled the security matter maturely, thus receiving wide coverage in both print and electronic media. The community, as Magara put it during the Ekerenyo IDPs camp visit said, deserves double benefit from the Kibaki-Raila Odinga government because they suffered heavily due to the way they voted.

The MPs also must address falling education standards in area schools because former academic giants like Cardinal Otunga Mosocho High School, Gekano and Nyabururu are vigorously dancing backwards in national examination results ranking.

There is need for a fully fledged university and other tertiary institutions in the area to cater for the students whose parents cannot manage to educate them in distant higher institutions of learning. The legislators need also to address poor road network in the area and establishment of factories that can utilize locally produced goods like bananas, pineapples and soap stones at Tabaka in Gucha District.

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