By Ndira Uradi in Kisumu City

INDIGENOUS residents of Kisumu County have voiced concern at the just concluded ODM grass root and County branch elections accusing the younger sister of the Prime Minister Raila Odinga of practicing nepotism by importing her relative from their Bondo background to come and grab various elective positions within the County to the chagrins of the indigenous.

Ruth Adhiambo Odinga, who is the marketing director of the Odinga’s family business flagship, the Spectra International, which is managing the Otonglo market based Kisumu Molasses plant is said to have taken an active part in the elections in the Kisumu Town West constituency sub-branch and in the Kisumu County ODM branch elections which took part at the Tom Mboya Labour College, specifically to ensure that only her relatives were elected in the positions of influence.

It is being claimed that she made it sure that only people whose homes are located within the Odinga family Bondo home turf were elected into two key important positions in Kisumu ODM County branch.

Dave Okwatch a native of the Odinga’s Sakwa Bondo home backyard was propelled by Adhiambo to win the Kisumu County branch of the ODM, while Mrs Rosa Buyu also an indignant of Bondo was imposed n women to become the chairperson of ODM branch in Kisumu County.

The Odingas, it is further alleged that Odinga family has always made it sure that Okwatch is always planted to the ODM nominated Councilor in the Kisumu Municipality despite the fact that he had no grass root support from the indignant in the region apart from doing errand job for the family.

Kisumu Count comprises of six parliamentary constituencies, namely Nyakach, Muhoroni, Nyando, Kisumu Town East, Kisumu Town West and Kisumu Rural. And during the election, delegates from those districts and constituencies were coerced an forced to vote for the two were correct ones wanted at the helm of the County branch.

Aspirants from the above mention rural constituencies with the blessing from their localities were locked out of the race

The matter has since elicited bitter complaints and allegation that the Odingas were out t marginalized the Luos by denying them their democratic birth rights.

Hat has aggravated the situation is the reports making the round that Raila’s sister Ruth Adhiambo Odinga is eying the lucrative position of governor for Kisumu County while Rosa Buru a woman born in Sakwa Bondo, but married to a husband a man of Kisumo Location is said to be eying the Kisumu Town West parliamentary seat, which she contested in 2007,but lost narrowly t to the incumbent Jon Olago Aluoch who beat her hand down during the ODM preliminaries, but she crossed over and into Narc of Charity Ngilu whose ticket she used in contesting the election proper against the ODM official candidate.

She has since been recycled in the government appointed Commissions after the other starting the defunct Andrew Legale led the Interim Electoral Boundaries .Commission

The locals are up in arms and now seeing the hands of the Odinga dynasty in full practice at the ODM leadership at all levels. People are wondering how Raila could win the hearts of the electorate in this region, where he has enjoyed massive supports of the voter with such complaints going unaddressed.

Ruth Adhiambo’s concerted effort to ensure the victory of Dave Okwatch and Rosa Buyu has given credence to unconfirmed allegation that she spent most of her time anointing her favorite candidates with those with potentiality of leadership being locked out.

Those who were vehemently oppose to the idea of electing an expatriate to be elected the party official in Kisumu were simply branded “traitors” an outmoded and stale word which was coined by the pro-Odingas during the old KANU-KPU rivalries of the 1960s..

Despite of the manipulations and nepotism, the locals have vowed that the seat for Kisumu County governor must be won by an indignant person with the family root in one of the six constituencies and not an imported person from Bondo even if this would mean mass walkout of Raila’s ODM party.

Meanwhile the race for Kisumu governor position party is slowly picking up and it favor the Mumias Sugar Company Marketing and Sales Director Peter Hongo who has also declared his interest in the powerful regional position.

His other credible challengers include an Insurance guru in Kisumu Simon Ogendo, former executive with the KRA Jack Ranguma, a Nairobi businessman Tom Otieno Alila, another Nairobi business executive with the Microsoft International Luis Otieno Ogingo, all of them indigenous people of Kisumu County.

To crown up the Odinga’s dynasty the other rumors making the round is that Raila’s elder brother the Bond MP who the Finance Assistant Minister Dr.Oburu Odinga is to abandon his Bondo parliamentary setf0r the Siaya Senate seat, while Mrs Ida Raila Odinga will go for the left vacant Bondo parliamentary seat. And furthermore Raila’s son Fidel Odinga is to intending to contest and inherit his father’s Lang’ata constituency seat in Nairobi.

Political pundits Kisumu City and observers alike were quick in pointing that if the proposed arrangements were to be implemented it would portray members of the Odinga’s as a family which is exhibiting excessive arrogance which could work against and stir up rebellion and sectional backlash.

Other rumors making the round in the lakeside City s that the Odingas were not comfortable with another Luo man winning the Nairobi City governor position in the forthcoming general elections. Political hirelings closely associated with the family have been heard saying that a Luo cannot be a governor in Nairobi while Raila Odinga is the President of the republic of Kenya, and those not supportive and ascribing to this school of thought have chipped in their opinion citing the reign of the founding President Jomo Kenyatta when his daughter Miss Margaret Kenyatta was the Mayor of Nairobi while her father was the Head of State and the President therefore whoever insisting that a person from Lu-Nyanza cannot be elected to become the City governor is merely advancing selfish argument.

Ends