Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.

A prominent Nairobi based businessman last week end showered President Mwai Kibaki and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga for having given Kenyans a new set of constitution that will op-en equal opportunities for all.

Addressing thousands with the of mourners at Kochogo village near Ahero Town within Kisumu County during the burial of the late J.H.Agimba, the retired former senior Co-Operative Development Officer, Eng Maxwell Otieno Odongo said that the two principals in the grand coalition government deserved recognized national and international awards for their concerted effort.

Eng Otierno Odongo who runs a chain of businesses both in Nairobi and Nyanza, which include posho mills, rice mills, hotels, large scale sugar vane farming. He is also the managing director of Otieno Odongo and Partners Engineering Company, which is operating in Nairobi, but serving as a consulting engineering working all over Africa also praised the late Agimba for having been a man of vision and integrity who had served his fellow Kenyans well.

He described the late Agimba as a roll model who should be emulated by the youths in the area for his tireless effort in development activities of the region even long after his retirement from the active service.

Eng Otieno Odongo expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the role some Kenyan leaders for having made previous attempt to cause change in democracy and to bring change in the constitutional reform in Kenya ever since independence in 1963.

“But as you are aware all the previous attempts ended in disasters with the repressive governments of the past two regimes.”These attempts, he recalled ended up in the premature and untimely deaths of the likes of C.M.G Argwings-Kodhek, Pio Gama Pinto, Thomas Joseph Mboya and Robert J.Ouko and many unsung heroes who laid down their lives while fighting for the cause of democracy,” he added.

Eng.Otieno Odongo who has already declared his interest in contesting the Senate seat for the Kisumu County paid a glowing tribute to the doyen of the oppositions politics in Kenya the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga who all these years of the struggle for democracy kept the fire burning, citing his book of “Not Yet Uhuru”. He said the late Jaramogi activities had landed him in the wrong way with the authorities earning detentions and house arrest

“We must also thank Raila Odinga who became the longest detainee in this country for pursuing democratic principles, a protracted war which has eventually been won with the arrival of the new set of constitution for Kenya.

Eng.Otieno Odongo told the mourners who included MPS, civic leaders, clergymen, teachers, elders and people from all walks of life that the new constitution, that the new constitution which was promulgated on August 4 being a people driven will bring many development to hitherto neglected rural areas.

The document has created many important positions through the establishment of 47 counties.

“In our own County of Kisumu it has created many important posts to be open to competition within the six parliamentary constituencies of Nyakach, Muhuroni, Nyando, Kisumu Town East, Kisumu Town West and Kisumu Rural. I am therefore interested in the area’s Senate Seat,” he declared, amid prolonged applause from the cheering mourners.

He went on,” the Senate seat is so significant for bringing faster development by its role. It will have supervisory role on County activities because the Senate will be deciding the allocation of funds for the regional governance, enactment of country legislation.”

He said that being both an engineer and a lawyer with such an attractive record of active participation in development activities in many areas in the past. ” My burning desire is to continue contributing significantly towards development of the region.

Other important role of the County Senator including sourcing funds for development activities both locally and internationally and to assist in attracting foreign and local investors to the area as well as seeking sufficient funds from the Central government for hr development of infrastructure.

The Kisumu County needs leaders with high integrity and who are development conscious. There are many challenges on the ground which must be tackled.

Other challenges includes the declining education standard in the Kisumu County in which only 100 qualified last year for the admission to the public universities, the declining health standards with the highest rate of child infant mortality at 100 per 1000.The current life expectancy at 40 while comparative analysis in neighboring counties is 65 years. The region also has low agricultural production making it to be a county with the lowest income per capita of one dollar a day.

“From these statistics we need to harness our resources both human and technical in order to realize fast and speedy growth.”

And the new set of the constitution being the popular vehicle to drive this fast growth. It is believed that the residents of our region will gain a lot particularly this one being a country with only hinterland City, which deserves fastest growth but has dwarfed due to bad government discriminative economic policy.”

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com