Reports Leo Odera Omolo
The recent announcement made by the incumbent MP Gerald Otieno Kajwang’ who is also the Immigration and Registration of Persons Minister that the 2012 elections, he would go for the Homa-Bay Senate seat instead of defending his parliamentary seat has crated leadership vacuum in the area.
Kajwang’ has had a long chequered political career dating back to 1992 when he first won Mbita seat for the first time during the first multi-party elections. He won on a Ford-Kenya ticket.
The Minister was among the group calling itself “The Young Turks” who teamed up with the doyen of oppositionists in Kenya the late Jaramogi Oginga OIdinga and tormented the KANU regime with the demand for political pluralism system.
As the result of Kajwng’ shifting from Parliament to Senate race, the Mbita parliamentary seat has attracted many youthful and credible aspirants. However, the most talked about is the anticipated bruising election campaign battle between a brother and sister from one family.
The battle with be pitting Phares Ogweno Rated an executive with an NGO in Nairobi against the nominated MP Millie Odhimbo who is also said to be eyeing for the same seat. Both Ratego and Odhimbo hail from Nyamuga in Kolo village. Waware sub-location,in Rusinga East Location, Mbita district with the Homa-Bay County.
The two aspirants had their rural home in Kolo village hardly separated by a distance of 200 yards and almost sharing the fences.
The candidature of the two has elicited a lot of controversy raising the political temperature inside the usually quit small Rusinga Fishing Island. It came to the surface during the well attended burial of Mrs Damaris Odhiambo the highly respected retired former social worker at Kolo village. Concerted efforts were made by members of the Odhiambo family and busy bodies to ensure that Ratego played no role in the burial ceremony as one way of locking him out of the public eyes.
Ratego’s supporters argue that Millie Odhiambo is truly their most loved daughter. She is called {Migogo} simply translating that she was a daughter of the village who is married away to a distant community and a such he had no right to turn back to reclaim political leadership in her birthplace.
And because Millie Odhimbo is married to a Zimbabwean husband therefore she has all the right to sand and contest for a seat in Zimbabwe Parliament, because that is the country where she belonged to. It is therefore rather a stigmatic for her to come back home and start scrambling for an elective leadership position.
Millie Odhiambo supporter responds by dismissing this line of argument, The same people are insisting that because of the sterling performance by Millie Odhiambo in the 1O Parliament. Her unswerving support to the ODM and loyalty to the party leader Raila Odinga she should be given another chance to go back to Parliament.
Kajwang’ who is closely related to both Odhiambo and Ratego has maintained positive neutrality on the issue refusing to be dragged into the matter, though he s reputed to have influenced the nomination of Millie Odhiamb to Parliament by ODM party in 2008.
Other issues and hurdles that Millie Odhiambo had to clear include the allegations that when a Rusinga man Sammy Wakiaga who is a businessman in Nairobi had in 2006/2007 declared his intention of contesting for the same seat, Milliw Odhiambo and some members of her family supported Kajwang and disowned Wakiaga.
Wakiaga has since lost interest in venturing into parliamentary politics and decided to stick to his businesses his many supporters in Rusinga Island have yet to forgive Millie for having stood with Wakiaga’s opponent Otieno Kajwang. Moreover Wakiaga hail from Rusinga West Location with much bigger population than Rusinga East and he is still the darling of the electorate there.
The thinking of the mainlanders in areas like Lambwe, Gembe and other locations maintains that if the islanders cannot provide a man as their candidate and plan to push {Migogo} as their candidate, they too will put more men on the race..though they are favoring the islanders to take the parliamentary seat after Kajwang’s three times representation last for close to 16.
No word has come as to who they will support having come from the twin Island of Mfangano, which is now an administrative Division with two locations and a big concentrations of votes. In the past election a Mr Otiato from Wakula sub-clan has twice contested the election once for the old Mbita before it was sub-divided into two namely Mbita and Gwassi constituencies, and thereafter it sub-division.
The first Mbita MP was Senator Selemiah Mbeo-Onyango who had the constituency curved out of the ld Lambwe Constituency in what is today known as Ndhiwa constituency today after the Senate was abolished in 1966.He lost the seat to the firebrand George Osingo Migure in 1969 and in the 1974 Alfonce Okuku the younger brother of the late Tom Mboya dethroned Migure, though both of them hails from Kamasengre sub-clan on Rusinga Island.In 1983 a former prominent banker Peter Clever Otieno Nyakiamo won the seat sending Okuku packing. Nyakiamo successfully defend his seat in 1988, but lost it to Dr Calentine Omolo Opere from Gwassi after the constituency was splinted into two Mbita and Gwassi. Opere lost the seat to Felix Nyauchi in 1992 and Nyauchi lost the same seat to Zadock Syong’o a prominent Nairobi based businessman who in turn was dethroned by the incumbent MP John Mbadi.
In the case of Millie Odhiambo and Ratego is a clear battle of brother and sister, though the two hails from two small sub-clans,but sharing one ancestral grand father. Millie Odhiambo is a member of Wamusa sub-clan while Ratego is a member of Kamasime sub-clan, and their family tree is said to be very close.
The popular opinion making the round in the area is that the ODM should nominate Millie Odhiambo to contest either Homa-Bay women County representative Senate seat or any of the especially those specially reserved seat for women to allow the electorate in Mbita to vote for a man of their own choice.
Ends