News analysis by Leo Odera Omolo
The uncalled for delaying by the grand coalition government in naming replacement in the cabinet of the Roads Minister and the Assistant Minister for Home Affairs is increasingly becoming an issue of great anxiety among the politicians in the Great Rift regions.
This is an area, which lost two Ministers in an aircraft tragedy in June last year. The Minister for Roads, the Late Kipkalya Kones together with an Assistant Minister for Home Affairs the Late Lorna Laboso perished in the incident together with the Late Kones police security guard and the German pilot of the light aircraft that crashed in Narok district due to bad weather.
The two ministers were flying to Kericho to attend the series of by- election campaigns rallies in Alnamoi and Kilgoris constituencies when the tragedy occurred.
By election to fill the two parliamentary seats were held last October. This resulted in the election victories of Mrs Beatrice Kones who clinched the Bomet seat for ODM. This particular seat was previously held by her late husband Kipkalya Kones and Dr Joyce Abonyo Laboso the eldest sister of the late Lorna Laboso who captured the Sotick seat for ODM.
But so far the President Mwai Kibaki has yet to made an announcement naming the deceased officials replacement. All the two were from the populous Kipsigis community, a sub-tribe of the larger Kalenjin ethnic group which gave the ODM and Raila Odinga almost 90 per cent of the community votes during the 2007 general elections.
Prior to the incident and consequently by election in the two constituencies respectively, there was dessenting views among the Kipsigis political leadership, especially the MPs from the South Rift who had accused the ODM leadership for having neglected the Kipsigis community in the allocation of cabinet posts.
The borne of contention at the time was that the Kipsigis community had been short-changed and sidelined by the power sharing coalition headed by President Mwai Kibaki and his principal partner Raila Amolo Odinga. The MP from the region led by the Chepalungu legislator Isaac Ruto did not minced their words, but openly accused the ODM leader Raila Odinga of favoring the Nandis from the North Rift, though its contributions in terms of voting strength was negligible.
Figure release by the defunct Election Commission of Kenya at the time showed that out of the 940,000 registered voters in the region 75 per cent voted for the ODM and Raila Odinga who was the principal challengere of President Kibaki.The Kipsigis Community gave the ODM 9 MPs. Eight of them from the five administrative districts of Kericho, Bureti, Bomet, Sotik and Kipkellion ,while Hon Zakayo Cheruiyot the MP for Kuresoi captured this seat for ODM. The constituency was previously one of the stronghold for KANU in the region bringing the total number of MP s from the region to nine.
But the community ended up having been allocated only one cabinet slot, which went to late Kipkalya Kones {Bomet} and Asssitant Ministers positions which went to Charles K Kketer (Belgut), who was appointed an Assistant Minister for Energy and the late Lorna Laboso (Sotick), who was made an Assistant Minister for Home Affairs.
Whereas their cousis from Nandi in the North Rift got the lion’s shares of three full cabinet positions at the time.. They were given to William Ruto(Elder North} who was appointed to the lucrative Agricultuyre Ministry, Harry Kosgei {Tindret) who became trghe Minister for Industrialization and Dr. Sally Kosgei and the MP for Aldai who was made the Minister for Higher Education.
Ruto who is also the deputy leader of the ODM represented a predominantly Nandi s constituency of Eldoret North, while the two Kosgei s represented the constituencies in Rural Nandi North and South districts.. The majority Kipsigis read a malice on the part of ODM leadership for being biased in favour of the Nandis and ignoring the Kipsigis majority. The Nandis had given the ODM only a peanut number of votes estimated to be numbering 236,000 votes compared with 940,000 votes ,which the party had harvested in the South Rift..
This had kindled not only harsh reaction and exchange of bitter argument between the ODM headquarters and MPs from the region. But the sparked off the accusations that the Kipsigis community was being marginalized and its leaders short-changed by the ODM rank and files at the headquarters.
The situation was later to be worsened and aggravated by what the Kipsigis politicians terms as biased and discriminative appointment in both government, parastatals and quasi-government organizations…
Ruto’s i Agricultural Ministry has more than 9 parastatals bodies but he Minister had only fovoured his fellow the Nandis in the parastatal appointments, but totally ignored the Kipsigis.Top of posts in the civil services and parastatals were allegedly dished to the Nandis, Luos and the Kikuyus. Top executive from the Kipsigis who had served under the Moi regime were unceremoniously kicked out of their positions in both the government and parastatals..
As the discontent was going on then cropped up the contention theory issue of the Mau Forest Complex ,where close to 20,000 illegal squatters are ,mainly the Kipsigis families are facing forced eviction from their legal acquires land. The majority of the settlers had the land allocated to them by the former KANU regime headed by the retired President Daniel Arap Moi and were duly issued with the their title deeds. What worsened the the situation was the fact that the eviction programme was spearheaded by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga the man who the community had viewed as the saviour.
Meanwhile he remorae making the round in the great Southern region of Luo- Nyanza is that the politicians from the region are in the process of ditching the ODM and teaming up with a sections of the the Kalenjin and Abagusii leaders in charting for the way forward in preparation of the year 2012 general elecrions in a new political party not the ODM.
It has been been confirmed by an impeccable source that behind the scene night meetings in b ith Nairobi and in N yanza have been going on.for somes. Now but it heightened soon after the ODM grass roote and national elections in which pro-Eaila elements were unfairly selected to head certain branches, though some of them were beqten hands down in the much flawed elections..
It is being rumoured tha some MP trom Southern Nyanza region had a feeling that the Prime Minister Raila Odinga lacked the foresight and political magnanimity of salvaging the Luos out of the abject poverty. Raila is said to be having no serious and concrete economic agenda for the region.nor did he committed the real task of helping the community acquire the wealth using the abundance natural resources in the region, apart from helping assisting the exclusive members of the Odinga family to acquire unjustified wealth.
There is a common saying in Luo Nyanza that nobody associated with the Odingas has ever crossed the poverty line. Most of the family adherence and staunch supporter have died in abject poverty or as common beggars. The uidea is selling like a hot cake in certain quarters. In the event of this latest political scenario exploding up, the party that stands to gain is the UDM..
Instead of initiating crush economic programme to empower the community economically program and to motivate the residenbts of Nyanza region to take active part in the agro-based economy and earning from the improvement of income earning from the region’s abundance natural resources the ODM is only busy promoting political goons and thuggery.,
The Prime Minister is also being accused of engaging undercutting schemes and polities of hatred and trivial issues such as male circumcision which is contrary to the Luo Community tradition and welfare.norms.
Male circumcision programme, which Raila Odinga and his Luo parliamentary colleague launched inb Kisumu a few moths ago has met with vehement resistance.
The much touted Male circumcision programme was launched at the Tom Mboya Labour College under the pretext that the male circumcision exercise was healthy and would deasticall reduced the deaths of thousands of youth in HIV/Aids related ailments. But it later emerged that Raila and his colleagues had received colossal amount of money from foreign Arab donors for the programme. The money according to a source had come through the Odingqa Foundation but since its launching the programme has impacted negatively among the residents of Southern Nyanza region. With some level minded Luo intellectuals viewing it as “Mischievous and cheap propaganda aimed at blanketing the community under the bondage of the Odingas.The opinion leaders within the community, however, agreed that the circumcision of males is so important for health reasons, but argue that it should be done voluntarily and does not require cash donations from foreign sources.
People in this region are yawing for the revival of the stalled manufacturing industries around Kisumu town and its environs.The improvement of cane crushing capacity and ending woes facing the sugar industries which are the economic mainstay of the region, and strictly not the co-called male circumcision said a Luo MP from the region who sought for his anonymity for fear of reprisal.
The closing town of major manufacturing interline such as the multimillion Kicomi Textile, Kibos Industry, Ken Breweries Plant,, Miwani Sugar MillS and the Ailing sugar factories of Muhoroni and Chemelil should be given top priority. At the same the cotton farmers shoulkd be encouraged to to redouble their efforts in growing the money minting cash crop and the improvement of earning by fishermen in Lake Victoria should be the top priority. But not male circumcision..
The MP from the region who are said to be extremely opposed to the Raila Odinga spirited male circumcision programme are said to have held night meetings with their fellow Kalenjin and Abagusii colleagues in secret hideouts in Nairobi and Nyanza in recent weeks.They are said to be tired with the Prime Ministers politics of hero warshipping, whiuch lacjked the tentative economic agendas for the region.. .
Only the outspoken Ndhiwa MP Joshua Orwa Ojodewho is a die-hard supporter of the Prime Minister is said to have turned down request by his colleague tom join the group.
Those legislators whose comments and opinion were sought by this writer evaded the question and turned hostile instead.
But all agreed in principles that there are rtoo many political brokers withiun the ODM hierarchy. Thuis , they said , is working for the downfall of the Orange party in many parts of Kenya , especially the idea o selecting certain individuals as the mosdt trusted Raila’s men and women which was exhibited during the recently concluded party elections.
Ojode is reportedly to have argued that leaving Mr. Odinga;s ODM party offer no immediate solution to the numerous pangs of human meseries in the region. All could be sorted out through dialogues and consultations. If the MPs are dissatisfied with Mr. Odinga’s economic policy, they are free to say so during the PG meetings, but secession and split will not help anybody. What we are doing is politics, and only political solution can solve any political programme, remarked Mr. Ojode when reached over his mobile phone…
These talks of plans to cut to size the influence of ODM in greater Southern Nyanza came about as the result of the recently concluded and seriously flawed ODM grassroots and national elections in which give branches well objected to unwanted repeat of the polls
It was later revealed that the ODM director of election Eng Phillip Okundii had been issued with the listseof wanted candidates prior to the elections This is what reaulted in people whose victories at the grass root election were forced back to a series of repeated polls in the various branches. But all in vain as the rejected officials were duly re-elected by the party followers to the chagrins of those who had hatched plans to manipulate the elections in favour of their cronies, surrogates and sycophants.
Unfortunately for unwanted had melted the political pressure as they left on beating Raila’s selected men and women out xx in the respected polls The unfairly and unjustified repeat of the polls exposed Raila Odinga dictatorial tendencies as he preached water but drink wine.
Raila only want to work with yes men and semi illiterate people who can continue worshiping him and his family. The PM is not interested in any meaningful change for the Luo community except serving selfish egoism,” remarked one civic leader in Uriri district.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com
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Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2009 05:28:59 -0800 [07:28:59 AM CST]
From: Leo Odera Omolo
Subject: ODM MAY BE HEADING FOR GLOOMING FUTURE OVER MAU AND DELAYS IN CABFFLES AS PART OF LUO NYANZA PLANS A REBELLION MOVES.
