Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Kendu-Bay Town.

REPORTS emerging from Rachuonyo South district within Homa-By County say clans politics is raising its ugly head ahead of the March 4, 2013 general election.

However, sources in this most populous and expansive rural farming constituency have confided to us that it would be an uphill task for an aspirant contesting the election on another party ticket outside the ODM to clinch the east.

The residents have vowed to follow the six piece voting pattern in the area to the latter despite of the concerted effort by one of the parliamentary aspirant to introduce the inter clans rivalry kind of politics which is pitting the east and the west side of the expansive constituency.

According to impeccable sources, the architect of the inter-clans rivalry politic in
Karachuonyo is Adipo Okuome, a perennial parliamentary election loser in the area ever since the late1980s. This time around, he was beaten hands down by the immediate former MP for the area Eng. James K Rege.

Disgruntled after losing in the ODM primary nomination, Adipo Okuome it is being alleged had mobilized drunken and heavily intoxicated youths who staged violence protest by way of blocking he main Kendu-Bay-Homa-Bay with logs and burning tires.

The youths stoned motorists, while singing derogatory songs against the ODM leader Raila Odinga shouting ‘no Adipo Okuome no Raila Odinga. They tore up and burnt Raila Odinga‘s election posters. The gangs of hired political goons had earlier attacked the motorcade of Eng. Rege when he toured Nyakongo area in Central Karchuonyo where the former MPs made a narrow escaped amid hails of stones.

Adipo Okuome had since ditched the ODM and took the ticket of the Wiper party and he is still in the race. Another ODM primary nomination loser David Ngala joined the UDF on whose ticket; he is still in the race for the election proper, which is slated for March 4, 2013.

Following the ODM nomination fiasco, the inter-clans politics has raised its ugly head with unconfirmed allegation claims that the Wiper candidate has been preaching for the partition of Karachuonyo constituency into to the east-West confrontation.

In Karachuonyo, the family tree is evenly distributed into sub-clans based on the clans named after the five wives of the community’s great grand father, Rachuonyo son of Jok. The descendants of the polygamous grand father are named after their grand-mothers, namely, Joka-Achieng’. Jo-Kanyipir, Jo-Kauma, Joka-Nyaluo and Joka-Adwet.

Rachuonyo’s wives were Achieng’, Nyipir, Nyaluo, Auma and Adwet.

The Kadwet group, which is the most populous sub-clan occupied the central and the eastern parts of the constituency including the Kendu-Bay town which is the nerves center of the region .politics.

The intriguing history of Karachuonyo politics rotates around the two major clans which live in the East and West. The east had the advantage accessing modern education owing to the fact that it was the homes of colonial chieftains, who dominated the area administration from 1906 to the time when Kenya attained its political independence in 1963. The old colonial chiefs who were from one sub-clan, joka-Adwet might have committed some act of injustices against members of other sub-clans, which were considered to be inferior due to lack of exposure to modern education and civilization, and from the look of things, it appears as if these sub-clans which were previously marginalized and suppressed by the colonial chiefs have yet to forgiven the Joka-Adwet sub-clan.

Despite of its population numeracy, the Joka-Adwet has yet to produce an MP ever since the inception of Karachuonyo constituency in 1962.

The first MP for Karachuonyo was the lat Elijah Omolo Agar who win the election as an independent KANU candidate the late Joseph Gogo Ochok who was the KANU official candidate during the 1963 independence general elections.

Omolo Agar met the fatal road accident in 1966 and died before completing his five year terms. At the time of his death he was serving in the post independence cabinet as an Assistant Minister for home-Affairs.

The election contest between the late Omolo Agar and the late Gogo Ochok was full of political intrigues and controversies in that Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who was the then KANU Vice President threw his weight behind the late Gogo Ochok the official KANU candidate while the late Tom Mboya who was then the KANU Secretary-General backed the candidacy of Omolo Agar.

Omolo Agar hails fro the Kanyipir sub-clan in the West .After Agar’s death, the former area member of the defunct Nyanza regional Assembly David Okiki Amayo was voted in to become the second Karachuonyo MP, Okiki Amayo, was to dominate the area politics for the next two decades until the until spoken women leader Mrs Phoebe Muga Asiyo dethroned him in another controversial and bruising election battle.

Asiiyo retired from active politic after representing thezrea for three five years term, ad was replaced by his former chief campaigner Dr. Paul Adhu Awiti.

Awiti lost to Rege in 2007 and has since been engaged by the prime minister Raila Odinga as his political adviser on Luo politic.

What is expected to come out of the election in Karachuonyo is the fact that those aspirants contesting the election in the Luo-Nyanza outside the ODM stand no chance of wining the election after the Luo political kingpin Raila Odinga had toured the area and questioned the voters not to elected “Madodoa” candidates. He warned that electing such a candidates would reduced the party majority in the next parliament.

Ends