News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo

NEWS and information emerging from the greater Southern Nyanza region says that tension is building up between the supporter of the Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga and the region’s professional caucus.

It has been revealed that the professionals and academician s from the region have of late been holding behind the scene consultative meetings in both Nairobi and at home while charting for the way forward on how the residents can free and separated themselves from the Odinga ‘s family influence.

Issues at stake include the recent placement in the government’s plum jobs, appointment of diplomats and lack foresight in the effort to revive the stalled economic outlets, such as Kicomi Ltd, Kenya Breweries Kisumu plant , proper management of the lucrative sugar industry.

The group, according to impeccable source have been holding secret meetings in posh hotels in Nairobi, Homa-Bay, Migori and even in the lakeside City of Kisumu.

The group which comprises clergymen, professionals, academicians and some selected civic leaders are said to be seeking the way forward to build another centre of power gravitation inside Luo-Nyanza, which is devoid of the Odinga’s influence. .But which could work with any group of Kenyan politicians and harmonize inter-tribal and communal relations for mutual benefits of Kenyans.

Also top on the agenda is the plan envisaged to pressurize any government of the day to split the present Nyanza Province into three Provinces., that would groups the Kisii and Kuria communities grouped together in one administrative Province with its headquarters in Kisii town, and the third Province to group all the administrative of Suba, Homa-Bay, Nyatike, Migori, Rongo and Rachuonyo together with the proposed headquarters in either Homa-Bay or Rongo townships.

This school of thought was originally the brainchild of the late Hezekiah N Oyugi, the former powerful Permanent Secretary in-charge of Provincial Administration and Internal Security who had proposed the power devolution way back in 1990. Oyugi had suggested that a new Province covering Southern Nyanza and Kisii regions be established at Kisii town.

However, years later during the Constitutional dispensation conference held at the Bomas of Kenya under Prof. Yash Ghai, the proposal was vehemently opposed by Raila’s supporters who viewed the idea as an attempt to divide the Luo community into a small splitter groups..

Pro-Raila wanted all the Luos to be kept in one huge basket for his own political mileage and control.But the proponents of the idea felt that the splitting of the Nyanza Province into three would be beneficial to the region because it will attract more government funding.

But the Luo intellectuals and professionals have now revisited the idea once again.

The group believes there is leadership vacuum in Nyanza and that there is the need for the region’s residents to built several new centre of power to gravitate in Gusii and greater Southern Nyanza regions.

Several prominent names have been floated. One is that of the Minister for Public Services Dalmas Otieno, who is also the MP for Rongo, the Immigration Minister and Mbita MP Gerald Otieno Kajwang’; and that of the youthful Ndhiwa MP Joshua Orwa Ojode who is an Assistant Minister for Internal Security.

Otieno’s problem is old association with KANU, a party many Luos believed to have masterminded the community’s marginalization and political suppression by the previous regimes of the late President Jomo Kenyatta and the retired President Daniel Arap Moi.,though many maintains that the Minister has matured up politically and can take the mantled of the overall community leadership.

Otieno Kajwang, is being dismissed as being too childish and not a serious person worth trusting with the responsibility of leading the Luo to a higher height of development. At the same time Ojode is seen as an achiever and a dynamic politician who has successfully developed his hitherto backward Ndhiwa constituency to a new hub of massive economic development.

Ojode an is an aggressive politician with unserving loyalty to Raila Odinga. Theyrecaled how the Assistant Minister had sacrificed the Ministerial appointment offered to him by President Mwai Kibaki in 2005 in solidarity with ODM and Raila Odinga.

Ojode is believed to have been disappointed with the allocation and distribution of ministerial posts in the grand coalition government shared on 50-50 basis between President Mwai Kibaki and the Prime Minister Raila Odinga in which he was relegated to an Sssistant Minister instead of the full cabinet. Instead Raila had favoured Otieno Kajwang’ who got away with the Immigration ministerial slot.

But Ojode could not be reached for his immediate comment. He said to be keeping a low profile, and has never appeared in any governmental or political function officiated by Raila Odinga ever since the formation of the grand coalition, though he is said to be extremely loyal to his friend the Prime Minister.

ther burning issues to which Raila must come out clean, is the allegations that he had interfered with the new appointment of the joint officiasl receive manager for both Miwani and Muhoroni Sugar Companies, and allegedly instructed the Kenyan Sugar Board to extend the tenure of the two joint receiver manager Eng. Martin Owiti, and Kipng’etich Bett. The two have been the joint receiver manager for the two facilities for the last four years, but have failed to turn them around. Farmers have gone for months without their cane bills cleared by Muhoroni, while Miwani closed down a couple of years ago.

Eng. Owiti who hails froim Bondo is said to be a brother-in-law to Dr. Oburu Oginga, the eldest brother of Raila Odinga who is also an Assistant Minister for Finance.

The Prime Minister is reported as having recently released ten tractors, which were donated bny the UNDP to the Nyanza Province for the purpose of improving agricultural activities in the region. Raila released the tractors in Bondo his home turf and ignored other agriculturally rich regions where the tractors could be put to a better use of improving food production in the region..

A number of ODM MPs from Luo-Nyanza are said to be secretly backing the separation plan to free the Luos from the Southern region from those from Bondo and Siaya.

While the Prime Minister Odinga is being credited for having taken bold steps to ensure that illegal squatters were evicted from the controversial Mau Forest Complex in the South Rift, he is at the same time being accused for having failed to initiate any meaningful dialogue for the resuscitation of the ailing sugar industry in Nyanza and the improvement of the fishing industry in Lake Victoria..

.Anti-Raila elements in Nyanza are accusing the Prime Minister for lack of total commitment in the real task of poverty eradication. Instead, the PM is said to be busy engaged in promoting politics of hero worshipping and sycophancy.

The professionals in Luo Nyanza are also said to be routing for the communal harmonization between the Luos as and the neighbouring communities irrespective of the political party of affiliation, at the same time blaming the current crop of MP from the region for promoting politics of hatred..

The Professionals from Southern Nyanza are also said to be reaching their counterpart numbers in Siaya Kisumu and Nyando. Several night meeting are said to have taken place in hideouts in Kisumu and Nairobi.

And in one such gatherings speaker after speaker reportedly denounced the Prime Minister much touted campaign to have youths in Luo circumcised as one way of minimizing the effect of HIV/Aid , arguing that such trivialities should not be the priority of the person holding such covenanted position of Premier to handle.

“Circumcision, they argued, should not be the community’s priority. There are other priorities which Raila should tackle with his Luo parliamentary colleagues.

It is only a matter of time before the on-going war between Raila and professionals exploded in the open for public debate. The professionals are also against loose talking such as the recent call by Dr. Oburu Oginga on William Ruto, the Minister for Agriculture to resign over the maize scandal.Oburu action is therefore viewed as being full of arrogance and as such misplaced..

Dr Oburu Oginga and his younger brother must stop the bad habit of rushing to the press on every single issue in this country..They must learn to be cohesive and tolerant because such uncoordinated comments on contentious issue affected a colleague in arm must be avoided at all cost.

We were not able to establish the names of the professional and politicians said to be behind the latest move to isolate Raila Odinga from the Southern Nyanza Luos, though it is true that several meetings have taken place in both Nyanza and Nairobi. The group have scathingly criticized Raila for having distributed government plum jobs to his kith and kin from Bondo and Siaya.

Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo,com

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Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2009 04:04:11 -0700 [06:04:11 AM CDT]
From: Leo Odera Omolo

Subject: IS RAILA FACING REBELLION BY SOUTHERN NYANZA LUOS?