Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Awendo Town

The bitter rivalry between the two Rongo political giants is likely to resurface in the newly created Awendo parliamentary constituency in Migori County.

It was originally hoped that the creation of the new constituency, which has now separate the two perennial bitter election rivals with the Minister for Public Service Dalmas Otieno remaining in the old Rongo constituency, which covered most part of his Kamagambo groups, while the former Energy Minister George Mbogoh Ochillo Ayacko would be safe in the newly created Awendo constituency covering close to six locations within the Jo-Sakwa groups.

But this is not the case. The entry into Awendo parliamentary election race of the influential Joseph O. Owuor, who is the Personal Assistant to the Minister for Public Service Dalmas Otieno in itself spelling the degree of political enmities that existed between the two rivals ever since 1997.

Owuor hails from the dominant Kamiyawa in Sakwa Centra. Prior to joining the staff of the Minister as his Personal Assistant, he had long record of associating and interacting with various NGO, which has resulted in several schools getting financial and logistic assistance from foreign missions in Nairobi. One of these is Manyatta Secondary School which received a school bus a couple of years ago and Owiro Akoko Girls Secondary School, which received donation of water tanks.

Owuor has also been instrumental in collaborating with others and enabling girls from the area acquire further education abroad. He contested Rongo seat in the 2007, but later withdrew half way to the ODM preliminaries in favor of Dalmas Otieno, and he is the one who is credited for having succeeded in getting the Minister elected to Parliament in a hotly contested and controversial election.

Also in the race for the same constituency is the current Chairperson of the Awendo Town Council, Coun Johnson Omolo Owiro, who also hails from Kamiyawa in Sakwa Central. He is a prominent business magnate in Awendo town,and the son of the pioneer Awendo businessman the late Ismael Owiro Akokowho is highly credited for having built Owiro Akoko Girls Secondary School at Ranjira with his own personal resources.

Coiun Owiro would be a man to watch because he has turned around the Town Council, which has recently constructed and commissioned an ultra buss terminal on the main Kisumu-Migori highway, introduced street lights and sewerage services in Awendo Town.

In the next general election, a lot of political realignment based on sub-clans will be witnessed in Awendo constituency. Already several members of one sub-clans is battling with the other, and even close blood relationship is not spared.

In Sakwa West Location, Dr Abwao, a medic working in Sudan, is contesting the parliamentary seat, while his cousin, Ezra Odondi Odhiambo, is in the race for Migori County governor. Both hail from Kanyamgony-Kamadhi sub-clans.

In the same Sakwa Central, Bob Odhiambo Ng’ura is contesting parliamentary seat with Dr. Abwao, and both are the great grand children of the late pioneer Anglican Canon Ezekiel Apindi Odondo, of Akoko Pe-Hill in Sakwa South.

The rumor making the round is that two other aspirants, Jared Opiyo, the Principal of Gamba Secondary School in Sakwa West, and Jude Ayieko, an official with the Kenya Revenue Authority who hails from Pe-Hill-Mariwa in Sakwa South, are simply dismissed as being Ochillo Ayacko’s proxies, – – not serious contestants. However, the time will soon tell whether the two are serious and contesting the election on their own or not.

Another aspirant is Prof. Erick Otieno who hail from Waware sub-location in Sakwa East and who is the immediate neighbor of Ochillo Ayacko also a resident of Sakwa East, but with considerable backing and support from Sakwa North Location where the bulk of his Kadera sub-clans lives.

What is already emerging is that there will be a lot of intriguing politics in both Rongo and Awendo parliamentary contests pitting the supporters of the two camps.

The majority of the electorate in Awendo constituency lives in the rural sugar cane farming locations, though there are substantial numbers of voters within the town itself whose votes cannot be ignored.

Ochilo-Ayacko and Johnson Owiro are both prominent businessmen in Awendo town and the two stand the better chance of harvesting the town’s votes. Politics of cane farmers and their predicament are likely to dominate the campaign, though all the aspirants are well known supporters and members of the Orange Democratic Movement {ODM}.

Economically, Awendo constituency sits on a agriculturally rich area with fertile and arable land, which is capable of producing allsorts of cash crops from Tobacco, maize, vegetable, banana, finger millets, fruits. Other crops include Sorghum, sweet potatoes, sunflower, tea, coffee, ground nuts and other cash crops.

However, the area is reported to be suffering acute shortage of food grains due to the fact that many farmers have resorted to growing cane to attract lucrative cash thereby ignoring the crops that acts as substance crops for domestic consumption.

The new constituency, with its district headquarters in Awendo town, is served by Kisii-Rongo-Awendo Migori highway, but with several outlets and inlet roads catering for cane transportation to the Awendo Town based SonySugar factory.

The security along the Luo-Maasai and the Luo-Kisii border which had earlier deteriorated had improved tremendously ever since the creation of the Awendo district early last year. This has minimized the risk cattle rustling in the area, which has always been the source of insecurity.

Ends