Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Awendo Town.

The campaign in the race for who becomes the next MP in the newly created Awendo Parliamentary seat has started in earnest and prematurely even before the constituency is officially gazette.

The constituency is among the 80 or so additional new parliamentary constituencies recently created by the defunct Interim Boundary Commission, which was led by the former Vihiga MP Andrew Ligale.

If the parliament will eventually ratify and approve the 80 additional parliamentary seats as proposed by Ligale Commission, Awendo district will have its own constituency hived out of the existing Rongo constituency.

Awendo constituency will cover areas close to the Luo-Maasai border in parts of Trans-Mara district will also have a small portion of borderline between Gucha and Awendo district around Kitunja, Ochodororo and Nyamaiya areas. These border areas have always been volatile due to the intermittent skirmishes between the Luos and the Maasais and also between the Luos and the neighboring Abagusii people.

Apart from clashes experience a year ago between the Maasais and the Luos over a the land disputes a year ago, the border areas have remain calm and peaceful for sometime, and the credit should go the Provincial Administration, particularly the Rongo and Gucha District Commissioners, police and local politician for having maintained peace and harmony for the last 18 months.

The last three years ever since the general election in 2007 has seen peace and tranquility prevailing in Awendo Town, which previously was prone to incidents of grisly murders, thuggery and insecurity. Then killers who used to get away with their heinous action have since disappeared and peace and harmony has relatively return to this busy farming town, which is surrounded by sugar cane farms and also housing one of the leading sugar processing firms, the SONYSUGAR.

It as has been established that most of the thugs whose used to terrorize the population within Awendo Town and its environs were characters imported from far locations such as Karungu, Kaler and Kadem locations in Nyatike district by politicians who used them to intimidate or eliminate their potential political rivals whether real of imaginary opponents. Immediately the Rongo and Awendo D.Cs were posted in, the thugs quickly retreated and disappeared, perhaps going back to their original homes.

The agriculturally rich district of Awendo has its administrative headquarters in Awendo town and is covering half a dozen of administrative locations stretching from South Sakwa, Sakwa East, Sakwa North, Central Sakwa{1} and Central Sakwa {11}.

The former Energy and Sports Minister, George Mbogoh Ochillo-Ayacko, is among the leading contender in the new constituency. But there are half a dozens of other aspirants. They include the current chairman of the Awendo Twn Council, Johnson Omolo Owiro, Joseph Owuor is a Personal Assistant to the Ministe for Public Services Dalmas Otieno, Bob Odhiambo Ng’ura, Prof. Eric Otieno, Jude Ayieko, Dr Abwao. Joseph Opiyo the principal of Gamba Secondary School in Sakwa West. The name of the aspirants are expected to swell up within the next few months with more contestants expected to join the race.

In the same constituency, dagger is already drawn for the both Senate and governors position, with Sammy Onyango and Ezra Odondi Odhiambo declaring their interests in the position of governors, while the one time two terms MP for the larger Homa-Bay constituency Phrares Oluoch Kanindo is to battle for the Migori County Senate seat .All are from Awendo district.

However, the man to watch is the current chairman of Awendo Town Council, Councilor Johnson Omolo Owiro. Born in 1947, and the son of the late business magnate, Mzee Ismael Owiro Akoko, the man who is credited for having pioneered into business and single handedly developed Awendo to its present status, Coun Owirotook his early education at Ranjhira Primary School before moving to Luwala Intermediate School where he sat for his KAPE and later joined Pe-Hill Secondary School.

After leaving school he joined the Extra Mural Studies of the University of Nairobi University for two years. He was employed by the East African Industries in the sale section. He later moved to the SONYSUGAR Company where he was employed as a managerial staff in the factory. The Company later sponsored him to a two years study tour of India where he studied sugar production, processes, technology and quality control.

Owiro later ventured into sugar cane transport business as one of the contracted transporters for the SONYSUGAR,and soon after abandoning the transport business established his own Susana Academy school in Awendo Town. In 2005 he established Susana Secondary School also in Awendo town. In the primary section of the school he allowed close to 105 children from poor family free education while in the Secondary section of the same institution close to 30 students from poor families are receiving education for free.

In 2007 Coun.Owiro contested the election in Sakwa Central Ward and beat other seven aspirants with an overwhelming majority of votes on an ODM ticket. He was immediately elected the Chairman of the Council and was re-elected last year for the same position.

Coun Johnson Omolo Owiro, Parliamentary candidate for the Awendo seat

During his tenure of office as the chairman, the Council has constructed Kshs 52 million Awendo Bus Park on them main Kisii –Migori road. He had also initiated the installation of -the town’s street lights, sewerage, water and good road network within the busy town.

Coun.Owiro’s other successes include the recent purchase of school buses for Owiro Akoko Girls Secondary School. The construction of Komolo Rume Secondary School,Got Ogwamrondo dispensary, which is now complete and operational and other projects in Sakwa Central. He is a member of the majority sub-clan known as Jo-Kamiyawa, whose members are the majority in Central Sakwa area covering Awendo Town and SONYSUGAR.

The battle of the wit will therefore be between the former MP Ochillo Ayacko who hails from the neighboring Waware sub-location, but has good following in Sakwa North. Ayacko’s own sub-clan of Kadera and their cousins the Jo-Kakmasia are the majority of the inhabitants of Sakwa North. The former MP is expected to enjoy partly the support of Sakwa East residents but he will have to share the Waware votes with Prof.Erick Otieno, who also hails within his home turf

. But the voters in Awendo Town and SONYSUGAR workers who are so significant and substantial will be out of his reach and here is where Coun.Owiro stand to reap the benefit of his sweat for having turn the Awendo Town around with numerous, but visible development activities during his tenure of office at the Town Hall.

Coun. Owiro maintains the most illustrious background and credibility as an accessible apart from being a staunch member of the Seven Day Adventist Church, which is the dominant religion in the region to his advantage while Ayacko belongs to the Roman Catholic Church, whose following is insignificant I the region.

There is a popular call for change in political leadership in the region, which has for sometime been rotational between Dalmas Otieno and Ochilo Ayacko ever since 1997and Coun Owiro is expected to exploit this new euphoria to the maximum.

The agriculturally rich constituency borders Uriri to the South, Ndhiwa toi the West, Rongo to the North , South Mugirango to the Southeast and Kilgoris to the Southeast. Cattle rustling have been the common feature and the source of insecurity along the common borders with Trans-Mara and Gucha, districts, but of late the situation seemed to be relatively calm and peaceful with very few cases reported.

The economic feature of Awendo district is based on sugar cane farming. The area has one of the most fertile and arable land capable of producing coffee, tea, maize, bananas, vegetables, fruits, sorghum millets, sweet potatoes and other cash crops such as tobacco. The residents have recently ventured into graded dairy cattle, but still in small scale and most people still prefer traditional zebu cattle for beef and other purposes.

The area is served by the ultra-modern Kisii Migori highway, but there are also all weather feeder and access roads used by the nearby SONYSUGAR FACTORY for the transportation of row sugar cane from its more than 25,000 contracted out -grower cane farmers in seven districts of Migori, Awendo, Rongo, Gucha, Trans-Mara, Ndhiwa ,Kuria and Homa-Bay. There are similar numbers of non-contracted cane farmers within the Awendo sugar cane growing zones.

A common belief by the electorate is that it was during Coun.Owiro’s tenure as the chairman of Awendo Town Council which saw the arrival of the new District and the new extra parliamentary constituency oif Awendo and all are attributed to Owiro political dynamism and magnanimity and given his family background, Owiro is the man to watch in Awendo politics.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com