A Digital Essay by Onyango Oloo
in Nairobi
Now that red dirt has settled on
the fresh judicial grave that has all
but buried
ex-Governor Rasanga Amoth’s short lived political career, the people
of Siaya are bracing for the next gladiatorial contest in that history drenched
county in the western part of Kenya.
Ironically, Rasanga himself is
quite bullish about his chances for retaining the governorship, confidently
citing the ease with which CORD retained the late Mutula Kilonzo’s Senatorial
seat as proof positive that ODM/CORD would maintain the stranglehold the
coalition has on Siaya County politics. ODM
branch officials “unanimously” endorsed Rasanga for the seat.
“If I am not popular in Siaya,
then why did 80,254 people vote for me?” asks Rasanga rhetorically,
presumably suffering from a bout of self-induced amnesia which allows him to forget
that since the High Court threw out his “victory” he can hardly use the same
flawed numbers to bolster his case.
One of my good friends based in
Kisumu, Chris Owala, was quoted in a
section of the press as saying that ODM
would retain the Siaya governorship because “ the people of Nyanza and especially Siaya where Raila Odinga hails
from will not betray him. Coupled with sympathies after the Supreme Court
verdict…no candidate will ever defeat the ODM candidate in Siaya.”
Siaya is the ancestral home of
the
father of the 44th President of Kenya.
Bondo, Sakwa in Siaya is the home of legendary Pan Africanist
father of the 44th President of Kenya.
Bondo, Sakwa in Siaya is the home of legendary Pan Africanist
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and his equally famous
son,
Raila Odinga.
Ramogi Achieng Oneko,
one of the pioneers of Kenyan independence and part of the Kapenguria Six,
hailed from Tienga, Uyoma in Siaya.
Ugenya, also
in Siaya County is where you will trace the origins of one of the stalwarts of
the Kenyan reform movement,
James Orengo.
James Orengo.
Gem, which neighbours Ugenya gave
birth to Argwings Kodhek, the first Kenyan to be called to the bar in the
United Kingdom who later made his name as a courageous lawyer defending the Mau
Mau freedom fighters in the fifties before cutting a swathe on the Kenyan
landscape as a politician in Nairobi and later in his native Gem. While still serving as Kenya's Foreign Affairs minister, Argwings Kodhek died
in a mysterious car accident along the road which bears his name to this day.
His cousin,
Professor Bethwel Ogot, is recognized as among Kenya’s pioneering nationalist
historians of the sixties. Their uncle Odera Akang’o, vilified in some circles
as a vicious colonial collaborator, left a lasting legacy in Gem as an educator
and modernizer.
Grace Onyango was the
first woman to be elected an MP in Kenya. She hails from Sakwa and is married
in Gem.
Her namesake,
Grace Ogot, is an icon in her own right as a novelist and
later in life, also an elected member of parliament. She was born in Asembo and
also married in Gem to the well known historian and academic with whom she
shares a surname.
In the world of music, Siaya County has produced such giants like
Gabriel Omollo,
Okatch Biggy,
Dr. Collela Mazee,
Ochieng’ Kabaselleh,
Omondi Tony and
Musa Juma to name a handful.
Dr. Collela Mazee,
Ochieng’ Kabaselleh,
Omondi Tony and
Musa Juma to name a handful.
For many
decades, what is now Siaya County used to boast (not without a little
justification) that this region had more PhDs per capita than any other part of
Kenya! The illustrious, erudite, eloquent Shakespeare and Martin Luther King
quoting law professor cum politician and former anti-corruption czar
Dr. Patrick Lumumba Otieno, better known as “PLO” who was born in Pumwani, Nairobi but cites Imbo, Siaya County as his ancestral home, is just one sample.
Dr. Patrick Lumumba Otieno, better known as “PLO” who was born in Pumwani, Nairobi but cites Imbo, Siaya County as his ancestral home, is just one sample.
Of course the flip side of this
rosy picture is the abysmal levels of poverty and underdevelopment in all parts
of Siaya. The county is still suffering
from the debilitating aftershocks of the HIV/AIDS pandemic which took such a
toll on the able bodied, productive and some of best educated brains in this
county. Women are still are wallowing on the margins of the periphery of
national development initiatives and youth unemployment scales 70%.
During the 2013 General
Elections, newcomer
William Oduol almost caused a major upset when he was almost elected the first Governor of Siaya County, mounting a feisty, well organized campaign against the ODM candidate after the shambolic primaries of the same party which many observers of Siaya politics insist Oduol won hands down. Oduol supporters also aver that it was William Oduol who was supposed to have been declared the winner in the ultimate contest on March 4, 2013. The shock and uproar when Rasanga Amoth who was NOT even a candidate in the party primaries was announced as the Governor Elect was to lead to a crisis of legitimacy for Rasanga who was to be dogged with persistent accusations that he was an electoral thief and usurper.
William Oduol almost caused a major upset when he was almost elected the first Governor of Siaya County, mounting a feisty, well organized campaign against the ODM candidate after the shambolic primaries of the same party which many observers of Siaya politics insist Oduol won hands down. Oduol supporters also aver that it was William Oduol who was supposed to have been declared the winner in the ultimate contest on March 4, 2013. The shock and uproar when Rasanga Amoth who was NOT even a candidate in the party primaries was announced as the Governor Elect was to lead to a crisis of legitimacy for Rasanga who was to be dogged with persistent accusations that he was an electoral thief and usurper.
Judge Aggrey Muchelule’s verdict
invalidating the March 4 gubernatorial polls in Siaya seems to vindicate the
above view.
As the triumphant petitioner, it
is hardly a surprise that William Oduol has promptly flung his hat in the ring
in the by-election to identify a new Governor for Siaya
County.
What is not clear is if the
West Con Africa Chief Executive Officer will be confronted by his nemesis Rasanga Amoth.
West Con Africa Chief Executive Officer will be confronted by his nemesis Rasanga Amoth.
As early as the day of the
verdict on the Oduol petition, speculation and rumours were swirling in the
Kenyan capital that ODM, the most dominant party in the former Nyanza Province had
quicklygone back to the drawing board opting to look for a fresh gladiator to
take on William Oduol.
Among the names loudly whispered
as possible candidates and rivals in the upcoming vuta-ni-kuvute in Siaya
County are Elisha Odhiambo, who unsuccessfully vied for the Gem seat; former
police spokesman Charles OwinoWahongo, former Kenya High Commissioner to the
United States Elkanah Odembo and possibly Malik Obama, President Obama’s older
brother, George Okedo and former aspirant Otieno Okanja.
One of the latest to join the
fray is
Oduor Ong’wen one of Kenya’s foremost development experts. Ong’wen is former head honcho at the NGO Council and currently Country Representative for Southern and East Africa Trade and Information Negotiations Institute (SEATINI).
Oduor Ong’wen one of Kenya’s foremost development experts. Ong’wen is former head honcho at the NGO Council and currently Country Representative for Southern and East Africa Trade and Information Negotiations Institute (SEATINI).
On the afternoon of Friday,
August 30, 2013, I ran into my old friend Ong’wen at the
G-Pot Restaurant located just off Chaka Place, near Yaya Centre in the Kilimani suburb of Nairobi where he confirmed directly to yours truly that Ong’wen had formally made up his mind on Wednesday, August 28, 2013 to throw his hat in the ring.
G-Pot Restaurant located just off Chaka Place, near Yaya Centre in the Kilimani suburb of Nairobi where he confirmed directly to yours truly that Ong’wen had formally made up his mind on Wednesday, August 28, 2013 to throw his hat in the ring.
I have known Oduor Ong’wen since
1981 when I was a first year Bachelor of Arts student at the main campus of the
University of Nairobi. Ong’wen was a year ahead, doing Sciences. He was to
later emerge as the Secretary General of
SONU in the Mwandawiro Mghanga administration, arguably the most radical
of all the student regime in a university which had maintained a militant
tradition which had seen the campus closed down a record 18 times between 1970
and 1983 mostly because of the uncompromising stance of the students who were
quick to spill to the streets in demonstrations whether denouncing the brutal state linked slayings
of leaders like JM Kariuki and Robert Ouko, the one party dictatorship, the assassination
of Guyanese progressive guru Dr. Walter
Rodney or the endemic corruption in all
aspects of Kenyan life. This militant tradition is the nursery and crucible
which nurtured future politicians like Senators Orengo, Kajwang’ and Wetangula
(who was actually quite conservative as an undergraduate) Kabando wa Kabando,
Ababu Namwamba, Mwandawiro Mghanga, John Munuve and Mukhisa Kituyi who served as MPs at one
time or another. Even the current Chief Justice Dr. Willy Mutunga came from
that radical history, being among the lecturers abducted and detained by the
Moi-KANU regime in June 1982.
Oduor Ong’wen was among the 70
students along with Mwandawiro, Ochuodho, Paddy Onyango, Kibisu Kabatesi,
Richard Onyonka, David Murathe, Adongo Ogony, Evans Vitisia, Ken Sagala, the
Aseka brothers from Kenyatta University who found some of us at the Industrial
Remand Home in the aftermath of the abortive 1982 coup.
Later in 1986, Ong’wen was among
the hundreds of peaceful, democracy seeking social justice campaigners who were
rounded up, beaten up and tortured at the notorious Nyayo basement chambers
before being dragged to kangaroo courts on trumped up charges and sentenced to
long prison terms as part of the infamous Mwakenya crackdown.
Upon release from prison, Ong’wen
became one of the leading members of the Me Katilili and UWAKE underground left
wing movements.
In the early 1990s when
countrywide mass mobilization forced the Moi-KANU dictatorship to restore legal
political pluralism, Ong’wen was once again very active in the original Forum
for the Restoration of Democracy (FORD) and later on its offshoot, FORD-Kenya.
It is around this time that Ong’wen became a close aide and confidant of former
Prime Minister Raila Odinga, a situation which obtains to the present day.
Ong’wen is not only a founding member of the Orange Democratic Movement, but
one of ODM’s chief ideologues and strategists, having recently served as a key
member of the Raila 2012 Presidential Secretariat.
William Oduol has his work cut
out for him.
Oduor Ong’wen is a seasoned and
formidable opponent.Definitely NOT a pushover for anybody. Of course he still
has to secure the ODM nomination before
he faces Oduol and any other candidate. That is assuming Oduor Ongwen will seek
the seat on an ODM ticket.
Nevertheless, and with all due
respect to my long time comrade and friend Ong’wen, I firmly believe that Siaya Governor by
election race is for Oduol to LOSE because all the positive momentum is with William Oduol. He is the clear cut front
runner and favourite. He created a groundswell of popular and solid support in
all the Siaya County parliamentary areas of Rarieda, Bondo, Gem, Alego, Ugunja
and Ugenya. A big chunk of the
politically conscious youth in Siaya is rooting for William Oduol. Despite his impeccable political and civil
society credentials, Oduor Ong’wen may suffer a huge backlash simply because of
his intricate bonds with ODM, a party which was resented in Siaya County in
March 2013 on the grounds that they were foisting unpopular candidates on the
electorate under the spurious guise of the discredited “Six Piece” strategy of
persuading an ODM bloc when it came to choosing county representative, women
representative, member of parliament, senator and governor.
Still ODM remains THE party of
choice in most of Luo Nyanza.
Bearing in mind that despite
running on a National Agenda party ticket, Oduol shares the same ODM roots with
Oduor.
Despite propaganda that attempted
unsuccessfully to tar and mar the reputation of Oduol as a sellout collaborator
with the rival Jubilee Coalition, it is clear that what propelled William Oduol
to the fore despite going against the pro-Odinga tide by going toe to toe with Raila’s older brother
was Oduol’s freshness and connections with the ordinary people of Siaya County.
He managed to stir in the people of Siaya a new dose in self confidence and
hope that the seemingly intractable socio-economic malaise afflicting the
county could be eradicated.
Going in, with the official IEBC declaration that the by-election of the Siaya Governor will be held on October 17, 2013, William
Oduol is the presumptive Governor Elect even with the considerable electoral
muscle of ODM massively in place.
The 2013 elections proved to be a
watershed in the tumultuous history of the young east African nation of
Kenya. Under the aegis of the
constitution passed in 2010, Kenyans elected ward representatives, senators,
members of the national assembly, governors and the fourth president.
While most of the media attention
and public debates swirled around whether it was going to be Jubilee’s flag
bearer Uhuru Kenyatta or CORD’s
candidate Raila Odinga who would wrest the right to snore in the State House,
other deeper, more profound seismic shifts were occurring at the county levels.
The emergence of the devolved
structures of government served as a tapestry in reshaping Kenyan politics at
the local and national levels. In the spirit of the 2010 constitution, power
was shifting from the centre to the regional and other lower county levels.
Hopefully if the spirit and letter of the country’s supreme document was
implemented faithfully, the democracy dividend would begin paying off.
At the same time, these changes
were taking place in a context where yesterday’s ethnic and regional chieftains
hankered to be the harbingers of a tomorrow they could barely fathom, let alone
embrace.
Nowhere was this more vividly
illustrated than in the so called “Luo Nyanza” the counties now baptized Homa
Bay, Kisumu,Migori and Siaya.
For the first time, the grass
roots electorate in what is called “Luo Nyanza” defied the edicts from the ODM
top brass to elect representatives of their choice rather than handpicked
cronies from Orange House, the headquarters of the Orange Democratic Movement.
The passage of the Constitution
in 2010 and the onset of the 2013 campaign opened up vistas for young blood,
new blood, female voices, and professional people to explore their political
options. Some wanted to take on, and sweep away the doddering incumbents, that
they considered incompetent dead wood. Others salivated over the positions for
governor, senator, women’s rep and ward representatives.
To the considerable dismay and
bemusement of these fresh faced aspirations, many of the corrupt MPs who had
utterly failed to serve their respective constituents were now gearing to
“promote” themselves to “senior” slots like governor and senator.
Otieno Kajwang’, James Orengo,
Anyang’ Nyong’o and Oburu Oginga all announced that they wanted to be senators
in their respective counties of Homa Bay, Siaya and Kisumu. With the exception
of James Orengo, whose reform credentials and democratic track record was still
intact, all the others suffered an immediate backlash because most of them were
deemed to have failed as MPs.
In the case of Dr. Oburu Oginga
in particular, it was a double whammy. In the first place, he was seen to have
underperformed as MP for Bondo. And he was seen to be hanging on the coat tails
of his more popular and effective younger brother and people in the community
felt he wanted to ride on the wave that was propelling Raila to seek, for the
third time, the highest seat in the land.
James Orengo refused to acquiesce
to any direct or indirect hints that he should cede the senatorial seat to the
Prime Minister’s older brother. Instead he quickly forged alliances with other
younger upstarts seeking elective posts in the inaugural Siaya County
government.
One of the people he hooked up
with was William Oduol, a forty something chartered accountant who had made his
mark in the corporate world, serving in managerial stints at Coca Cola,
Microsoft and Safaricom and endearing himself to his rural constituents with
some forays in philanthropic charity projects. One of the allies of the
Orengo/Oduol Siaya County team was none other than Jakoyo Midiwo. This was
significant because Jakoyo is a first cousin to both Raila and Oburu apart from
being the powerful parliamentary whip of ODM. It was even whispered that Ida
herself, the spouse of the PM was aghast at the prospect of Oburu embarrassing
the family in a faceoff with the flamboyant, patriotic and intelligent outgoing
Lands Minister.
Dr. Oburu Oginga was soon forced
to eat humble pie when he announced that he was withdrawing from the senatorial
contest and in fact teaming up with his
would be adversary, James Orengo.
Instead of being a Shakespearean
all’s well that ends well, it emerged into an almost dystopic anti-climax when
Jakoyo Midiwo (the outgoing MP for Gem) brokered an elite pact that would see
Oburu stepping up his bid a notch higher to go for the Governor’s position.
By this point in time, William
Oduol had emerged as the clear front runner in the Siaya gubernatorial contest.
But to his shock, his former
allies James Orengo and Jakoyo Midiwo were now urging, cajoling and even
threatening him to vacate the Governor slot for Oburu Oginga who is massively
unpopular in Siaya County, despite being a sibling of the popular ODM head
honcho.
With Oduol standing his ground
while welcoming the candidature of Oburu to vie for the governorship, matters
took a nasty turn.
From being a darling of the ODM
headquarters because of his generous party contributions, Oduol was transformed
over night into a pariah.
He was now being openly referred
to as a “TNA mole” sent by Uhuru Kenyatta to undermine Raila Odinga in
Siaya. There were reports that Oduol,
was in fact a “first cousin” of Onyango Oloo, the Secretary General of the TNA
party. These were both outright falsehoods.
On January 3, William Oduol had
to issue a press statement, carried by the Star newspaper that he was a TNA
mole. He was reacting to a statement by outgoing MPs Jakoyo Midiwo, Nicholas
Gumbo, Edward Yinda and James Orengo who had declared at a rally in Bondo that
William Oduol was a spy working at the behest of Uhuru Kenyatta’s party which
in the context of Nyanza politics was insinuating that he was a “traitor”
working for the downfall of Raila Odinga.
There was even another allegation
that William Oduol shared the same grandfather with Onyango Oloo, the TNA
Secretary General.
Despite these and other smear
campaigns, William Oduol remained focused on his campaign, determined to secure
the ODM nomination for the Siaya Governor slot.
As the January 17th date for
party primaries loomed closer, there were growing credible fears that the ODM
higher ups were determined to lock out Oduol to stave off embarrassment for
Oburu. The former MP for Alego, Sammy Weya was later to admit publicly at a
meeting in the Kenyatta International Conference in early February 2013 that
Jakoyo Midiwo had visited Weya at his Siaya home in November 2012 and vowed
that there would be no ODM primaries in Nyanza. Other sources vouched for this,
saying that all the incumbent MPs from Luo Nyanza had each contributed ranging
in the millions to Orange House. In return they were assured by the party top brass
that no one would contest against them.
Concerned democrats and civil
society activists outside ODM but active in Siaya County became increasingly
alarmed at the prospects of rigging out the popular gubernatorial aspirant.
They reacted in three ways.
The first group, who saw themselves as loyal to ODM and supporters of Raila Odinga started appealing within ODM for free and fair elections and promised to remain vigilant to see Oduol crowned Governor Aspirant for the party.The second group, most of them younger activists in the universities and civil society organizations, took the initiative to form an online platform, the Siaya County Forum whose primary objective was to build support for William Oduol and expose the machinations of Oburu and other ODM heavyweights to impose candidates in Siaya County- including parliamentary and other aspirants. It soon became a very vibrant forum which was joined by supporters of all the governor aspirants including Oburu, Okinda, Ochanda and Oduol. The last three participated directly in the online exchanges.The third group consisted of leading members of other smaller parties who soon got in direct contact with William Oduol, plotting a fall back plan in the eventuality of ODM rigging. There were two tracks to these suggestions. Leading members of one of these smaller parties advised William Oduol NOT to defect, as this would give his ODM detractors the justification of calling him a TNA mole. SDP and William Oduol agreed that Oduol would soldier on until the end of the primaries on the 17th as both were confident that Oduol would carry the day by a landslide. A Plan B would only arise in a case of blatant and open rigging.
January 17th, 2013 began ominously. In
a conversation with this writer at 13:45 William Oduol revealed that the
nomination exercise was yet to begin, adding to his fears of potential foul
play but repeating his reassurance that the feedback from the grass roots all
over Siaya remained pretty good.
It was a day of tenterhooks and
raw suspense as the results were stalled for hours, late into the night. The
returning officer disappeared. It later emerged that the officer had been
kidnapped. Later on, in a surreal twist, another person purporting to be real returning officer appeared, not in Siaya
Town, the county headquarters housing the tallying centre but in Bondo, Oburu’s
home town and declared that Oburu, who had earlier been announced by Ramogi FM
and other media outlets to have lost, the
alleged winner of the gubernatorial nominations!
Panic and pandemonium broke loose
all over Siaya County starting with the tallying centre. It took restraint from
Oduol and his supporters to prevent a riot.
But William Oduol and his team
had been methodical in their campaign.
They swiftly released their own
figures that they had patiently compiled all over Siaya County.
I reproduce these below:
Constituency ODUOL OBURU
1. Bondo 9,345 12,201
2. Ugenya 16,600 3,923
3. Alego/Usonga 28,964 3,934
4. Ugunja 13,666 4,812
5. Gem 18,817 10,508
6. Rarieda 12,600 16,100
Total 99,992 51,478
Despite these claims there was
massive silence from the ODM headquarters.
Away from the public limelight,
there was a barrage of calls to Orange House and to Raila Odinga specifically,
protesting what was deemed to be a blatant electoral theft. William Oduol
called this writer at 6:30 am on January 18th when he was in Narok en route to
Nairobi. He informed the writer that the Prime Minister himself had summoned
him to come for a reconciliation meeting between Oduol and Oburu scheduled to take
place later the same day at Orange House to seek a way forward.
As matters turned out, Oduol was
kept waiting in Nairobi the whole day only to be called in close to 7 pm.
Even
then there was no announcement.
It was not until the second half
of the next day, January 19, 2013 that Franklin Bett announced the shocking
ruling:
Both Oduol and Oburu had been
locked out!
In their stead, ODM had in its
wisdom picked Rasanga Amoth, who was NOT EVEN ON THE BALLOT as its nominee for
Governor.
On being locked out, William
Oduol set out activating his Plan B.
Against expectations, he ignored
the overtures from the smaller parties and other so called “CORDED” outfits
like Wiper, FORD Kenya and the like.
Instead through one of his
associates, Mrs. Concelia Ondiek, the widow of the former Ugenya MP Archbishop
Ondiek, Oduol entered into negotiations with a little known party, the National
Agenda Party whose offices were in an obscure section of Nairobi’s teeming
River Road neighbourhood-quite a contrast to the upscale digs of the major
mainstream parties like ODM. In a jiffy, he had secured a direct nomination
which set the stage of his announcement that he had quit Raila Odinga’s party
but was still in gubernatorial race in Siaya. This news flash sent tremor
ripples within the ranks of the ODM hierarchy in Siaya County who had assumed
they had effectively silenced and neutralized Oduol.
At a fundraising cocktail party
held at the Taifa Hall at the KICC (not to be confused for a similarly named
auditorium at the University of Nairobi) on February 7th, 2013 and attended by
among other people, TWO siblings of his main rival Rasanga Amoth, one of
Oduol’s aides, Sammy Weya, a former MP for Alego revealed that the powers that
be in ODM had resolved months ago not to hold primaries in Luo Nyanza but
instead impose the outgoing incumbents on the electorate. The event was
punctuated with fiery speeches by a mostly young crowd (the median age was late
twenties, early thirties) who said that it was time the people of Siaya fought to reclaim the democratic space that
they had fought so valiantly for over the last two or three decades.
When he came to the podium to
deliver his speech, an obviously energized Oduol picked up on this theme,
laying out his vision for development, poverty eradication, social justice and
community empowerment. He spoke of the need to achieve food sovereignty, stem
the tide of insecurity, and foreground the aspirations of the youth, most of
who were wallowing in unemployment. He made a point of pledging his loyalty and
commitment towards supporting the presidential bid of ODM leader Raila Odinga
and outlining his history of financial contributions to the ODM party. Whether this was a tactical move on his part
to avoid being tagged with the “TNA mole” label or whether it was a sincere
statement of his political and ideological affiliations at the national level
appeared blurry.
At any rate the fundraiser was a success
raising money from all the six constituencies which make up Siaya County.
In the remaining weeks leading up
to the March 4 elections, his star continued to rise. An IPSOS Synovate poll
named him as the front runner with over 60% of those surveyed naming as the
person they were likely to vote for.
William Oduol was not the only
one in Siaya running against the ODM tide.
The shambolic January 17th
travesty had affected several other aspirants. In Alego/Usonga George Omondi
Mulwan had trounced the incumbent Edward Yinda, garnering 18, 189 to emerge
first in the nominations. To his shock, apparatchiks at the Orange House
headquarters of ODM in Nairobi substituted his names hours before the IEBC
deadline for political parties to submit their final list of official party
nominees. Mr. Omondi scurried to get an alternative party, first approaching
officials of the SDP before securing the nod from the Wiper party, a partner
with ODM in the CORD alliance. Mr. Mulwan would later be declared the winner of
the Alego seat at the March 4th elections.
In the neighbouring Gem
constituency, a young, twenty something
engineer, Booker Omole Ngesa, the
National Organizing Secretary for the small
Social Democratic Party had thrown his hat in the ring to challenge the
powerful, but highly unpopular incumbent, Jakoyo Midiwo-a first cousin of the
Prime Minister- who doubled as ODM’s
chief whip. Jakoyo had actually LOST in the ODM primaries against a newcomer,
but had managed to secure a direct nomination from the party under
controversial and unclear circumstances. In the case of Jakoyo Midiwo his most
formidable foe was not a mainstream political figure but rather the electorate
itself. He had angered the grass roots women of Gem with what they felt were
crude, tactless and pornographic sexist snide remarks targeting their
genitalia- anathema in a largely conservative and religious rural community
where the bedrock of the opinion leaders consisted of middle aged church going
grandmothers, aunties and mothers who felt that their errant “son” Midiwo had
demonstrated disrespectful cheek and had decided to “teach him a lesson” by
voting him out at the primary nomination stage. The fact that he managed to
impose himself as the ODM nominee after being trounced openly in the primaries
elicited considerable ire among the populace. This helped to give traction to
the bids by Booker, the aforementioned Elisha and other rivals for the Gem
seat.
It was not lost on observers that
Jakoyo Midiwo was in cahoots with his first cousin Dr. Oburu Oginga to fix the
“dissidents” in Siaya County like William Oduol, George Omondi Mulwan, Booker
Ngesa, Tom Okore, Dr. Phoebe Akinyi Nyawalo, Mrs. Concelia Ondiek and others
who had the “temerity” to challenge what was colloquially referred to as “Odingaism”
in Luo Nyanza.
In public forums and online
mailing lists targeting the electorate of Siaya, there was a groundswell of
support for Oduol and all other independents who were determined to debunk the
idiocy of the “six piece formula” which was deemed the very antithesis of
democracy.
Most of these candidates pining
for to become part of the new alternative voices in Nyanza were sophisticated,
educated cosmopolitans some of whom-like Okore and Dr. Nyawalo had spent years
in North America and Europe. They employed savvy tactics like sms campaigns,
blogging and social media outlets to reach to a diverse audience outside Siaya
country itself.
It must be underscored that
Nyanza, unlike the former Central and Rift Valley provinces had evolved from a
regional colonial political economy that assigned the province as a Labour
Reserve, rather than as a destination for White settlement or a resource for
plantation agriculture or extractive mining or industrial pursuits. This then
gave rise to a phenomenon of an INTERNAL “diaspora” within the country as many
of the able bodied women and men sought education and employment outside
Nyanza. The fact that parastatals like the Railways, the Postal Services, the
Harbours, the municipal authorities, the Police and Prisons services were among
the largest public employers explains the presence of millions of Luos choosing
to reside permanently in urban and semi-urban areas like Nairobi, Nakuru,
Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa, Voi, Thika, Nyeri, Malindi, Nanyuki, Lamu even far
flung outposts like Garissa, Mandera, Loitoktok, Magadi, Kilifi and Kwale. In
some of these places-like Thika, Kilifi, Taveta and Kwale for instance- these
Luo internal émigrés were lured by the dubious lucre of manual, industrial and
farming work. Today, the neighbourhoods of Kaloleni, Jericho, Makongeni,
Muthurwa and Kibera in Nairobi and Kisauni, Magongo, Likoni, Kongowea, Tudor,
Makupa, Mtongwe and Shika Adabu are secondary permanent homes for “diaspora”
Luos who still call Alego, Gem, Ugenya, Uyoma, Asembo, Bondo, Yimbo and other
parts of Siaya, Kisumu, Homa Bay, Migori counties their “real homes even though
some of their twenty first century offspring and sibling can barely string a
coherent sentence in their mother tongue.
The existence of a “Siaya
Diaspora” therefore provided a strong support network for these alternative
political aspirants during the 2013 election season. This was bolstered by the
fact that most people from western Kenya (including the Abaluhyia, Gusii, Suba
and Teso communities) have strong affiliations and attachments to their rural
ancestral homes. Many Kenyans outside this western region are often bemused by
the insistence in which Luos, who for example have resided in Nairobi for more
than fifty years will INSIST on burying their dead “back home” incurring a lot
of funeral expenses rather than merely disposing of their departed relatives in
the public cemeteries at Lang'ata, for instance.
In the end, what started as
something akin to an “uprising” against ODM and what was seen to be “Odingaism”
ended almost with a whimper with mixed results?
In Alego Usonga, George Omondi
Mulwan prevailed. Activist Leonard
Oriaro, a former “Speaker” of the well-known
Nairobi-based Bunge la Mwananchi social movement captured a Ward Representative seat in the same Alego
constituency after being rigged out during the ODM primaries. He crossed over
to the National Vision Party led by Nicholas Biwott, getting over 5,000 votes,
beating the runner up with a margin of a
couple of thousand votes.
But in Siaya where the duel over
who would be Governor was the main act, the ODM big wigs ultimately prevailed.
According to impeccable sources, the tide against Oduol and other so called
rebels came at the very last minute. On Friday, March 1, 2013 Raila Odinga toured
Siaya County. Contemplating the looming embarrassment of losing his key
lieutenants to upstarts and gad flies who had thumbed their collective noses at
his authority in what he considered hi literal backyard, the Prime Minister
opted to use a tactic he had employed during the Ndhiwa by-elections where the
ODM candidate was in danger of losing: he opted to be THE CANDIDATE in each of
the areas where the ODM aspirants were relatively weak. At public rally after
public rally, he exhorted the electorate to VOTE FOR HIM. He was not just
appealing for their votes in the presidential contest. He was using coded
language to say that since he was their General, he needed soldiers when he
went out to battle. These soldiers were none other than the ODM candidates, most
of whom had got their tickets using unscrupulous means. Given the high stakes
(with overt ethnic overtones) of the CORD/Jubilee tussle and the magnetic
charisma of Raila Odinga, most of the electorate, consisting primarily of die
hard and hard core ODM zealots, this overture proved to be persuasive and
decisive. According to my informants, as additional icing on the cake, ODM
operatives swiftly followed up within hours with what in a rural, impoverished
context were “massive” financial inducements. There were credible reports of
voters being given incentives of 1,000 shillings to vote for the six piece-President,
Governor, Senator, National Assembly Member, Woman Representative and County
Rep all from ODM. Other reports
mentioned ballot stuffing at selected constituency outlets for particular
candidates.
This is the context of
understanding the following news story filed by the Standard’s Lawrence Aluru
on March 6, 2013:
Siaya, Kenya: For the Siaya County Returning officer to announce gubernatorial winner, the security personnel had to intervene before he finally delivered the results.
Benson Mughatsia announced to the crowd gubernatorial results from the constituencies before finally declaring that Cornel Rasanga Amoth with a total 142,901 while his close contestant William Oduol 133,900 votes.
Mughatsia had a rough time when he rose to address the crowd which became rowdy when they sought his audience before he could proceed.
An adamant Mughatsia went on to read the final report of the results that they had got from the six constituencies.
At first, there was calm in the county hall when other results were being announced then a commotion ensued in the crowd as results for Gem constituency were being read.
Oduol and his supporters tried to stop the county elections boss from announcing the gubernatorial post as they said that they were ejected from Sawagongo high school where Gem tallying were conducted.
Apparently they had lost in Bondo, Rarieda and Gem where they were citing electoral malpractices while they managed to win in Alego, Usonga and Ugenya Constituency.
Oduol said that the delay to announce the results was a ploy to doctor the votes in favour of his opponent.
IEBC operations almost came to a standstill when his supporters brought commotion into the hall.
Siaya OCPD Stephen Cheteka and his team had to intervene for the County returning officer to announce the results.
Initially, Oduol had written to the IEBC chairman through the CRO to demand that the results to be announced and transmitted at the end of the voting exercise to the IEBC national tallying centre via electronic system.
He said that this was because ODM agents were allowed by the IEBC officials to buy voters in the precincts of the voting area.
Oduol went further to state in the letter that, “Gubernatorial position results announcement should be suspended pending a full audit of all the votes cast in all polling stations of the county.”
He said that the returning officer in Gem permitted thugs, under the command of Jakoyo Midiwo to invade the tallying hall during the tallying exercise to forcefully eject him and his aides from the hall.
When The Standard spoke to Midiwo who is the MP elect for Gem, he said that he had only gone to attend to the announcement of the parliamentary seat for which he contested.
“Those are the kicks of a dying horse. He knows very well that my main intention is to get my own results how again do I create commotion?" Midiwo posed.
In Ugenya constituency, David
Ochieng of ODM is the new Member of National Assembly after beating his closest
rival Chris Karan of National Agenda Party of Kenya with more than 18,000
votes.
Rarieda in the meantime retained
Nicholas Gumbo to represent them in parliament in the next five years.
But Edwin Yinda met the wrath of
the voters when his rival from the word go at the nominations Mr. George Omondi
Muluan got the highest votes to represent the vast constituency in parliament.
James Orengo of ODM easily won
the Senatorial contest.
In Bondo Gideon Ochanda of ODM
took the seat.
So when all is said and done, was
there a “Siaya Spring” after all?
On the face of it, this was not
the case.
The 2013 elections were the first
to be held under the aegis of the constitution that Kenyans overwhelmingly
embraced three years earlier. The campaign was suffused with the promise of a
new dawn, with hints of ushering in a new constitutional dispensation opening
the doors to a new national democratic renewal.
It is almost a paradox to
understand why there was so much rigging and foul play on the eve of these
historic elections.
One cannot understand what
happened in Siaya without looking at the wider national context.
The “Six Piece” phenomenon was
not confined to ODM. It was present in TNA, URP, Wiper and all the major
parties. They all wanted to elect all the six candidates per constituency on
their own ticket. One can think this only “logical and natural” given the fact
that they were pushing for state power at the national and county levels.
But there was a more primordial
impetus.
The ruling comprador bourgeoisie
national elite are in the process of merging, realigning and reconfiguring
themselves in terms of the strata, fractions and factions of these elite forces who predicate
their survival in terms of how global shifts in world monopoly capitalist
economy impacts on their strivings for
primitive accumulation at the local neo-colonial levels. A largely
unproductive bunch, those who make up
what is referred to as the Kenyan ruling elite are totally dependent on
how the use the levers of neo-colonial
state power to stay relevant especially in the wake of the discovery of oil,
gas and natural resources like titanium, gold and other minerals. They are
aware that with the devolved system of governance and the retreat of the
centralized state, they need to hang on to power at the county levels as well
as the national sphere. That explains their obsession with hand picking the
governors, senators and other members of the county governments. They show
fealty to devolution because they have been nurtured in the ambience of
patron-client relationship in the old predatory state headed by an all powerful
president. Like chameleons they are only changing the camouflaging their class
intentions by pretending that they are champions of devolution.
But what they want to implement
DEVOLUTION is not devolution of governance or popular participation of course.
The "devolution" they
want to implement is the DEVOLUTION OF CORRUPTION. The regionalization and
privatization of LOOTING and PLUNDER of natural, national and public resources
using the conduits of POWER at the National and County levels.
While the big honchos carve out
resources and finances at the national state levels they have recruited their
cronies, acolytes, family members, lovers, mistresses, gigolos and fellow
gangsters at the county level add to the swag.
At the end of the day, and in the
final analysis, it is the ordinary women and men who registered as voters in
Siaya County who will decide who is going to be the new Governor.
Will the voter turn out be as sky
high as it was in early March of this year?
Are the same intense passions
present?
How about the level of mass
mobilization and political engagement?
Will money, bribery, intimidation
and national politics loom large in this by election or will all those factors
be trumped by the fidelity of the candidates to local, Siaya County specific
issues?
Will the media driven smear
campaign against William Oduol have the effect of turning of some of his
potential supporters?
These questions will be fully
answered at the end of election night in this by-election for Siaya Governor.
Onyango Oloo
Nairobi, Kenya
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