Writes Arrum –Tidi Ogonglo in Kisumu City.

The battle for Kisumu County Senate seat has taken a new political dimension with the voters in all the six parliamentary constituencies appear not settled with the candidature of the Medical Services Prof.Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o who has already declared his interest in the seat.

Prof.Nyong’o lance his campaign for the seat in a colorful ceremony held at the Tom Mboya College in Kisumu on September 17,2012. This was only a week after another high profile aspirant for the same seat had launched his well attended campaign for the same seat a the same venue.

The aspirant is a Nairobi based managing director of an international engineering firm Maxwell Otieno Odongo {The Aga Khan} as he is known to his peers.

Eng Otieno Odongo is the managing Director of Otieno Odongo and Partners Engineering company, which is involve in word-wide construction and consultancy projects, and a prominent businessman in both Nairobi and Kisumu. He is a large scale sugar-cane farmer in Kibos-Miwani area and running other chain of businesses including rice factory at Ahero Town and the Homa-BayTourist Hotel.

The contest for the Kisumu County Senate sea has also attracted another wealthy Nairobi based quantity surveyor Ocholla-Ogoda who at one time was the successful chairman of the populist Gor Mahia Football Club during the clubs hay-days when it won triple of cups and trophies in Kenya and Africa.

Ocholla Ogoda also launched his campaign or the same seat two weeks ago at a well attended ceremony held at the Kenyatta Sports Ground in Kisumu City, which was also attended by the Assistant Minister for Education Prof P Ayiecho Olweny and other political personalities in the region.

Kisumu County is made of seven parliamentary constituencies, namely Nyakach, Muhoroni, Nyando, KisumuTown East, Kismu Town West, Kisumu Central and Seme. Out of the seven constituencies two were recently created by the IEBC while one had its electoral boundaries realigned This is Kismu Town West which was separated from the original Kisumu Rural that has also created the new Seme constituency and Kisumu Central, which is exclusively covering the City center and its environs making the constituencies to seven instead of the previous five.

The general elections are only five months away. It comes the time when Prof. Nyong’o’s medical Services Ministry has come under severest criticism putting the Minister’s integrity to question.

Prof. Nyong’o has also come under heavy fire and scathing criticism for his Ministry’s handling of the National Hospital Insurance Fund’ board of management. The doctors strike, which has left many inpatient an outpatient in government hospitals and health enters dying due of luck of doctors attentions.

Prof. Nyong’o in his poor handling of doctors strikes has clashed with stakeholders in the NHIF like COTU {K} the Federation of the Kenya Employers {FKE} both of which have stakes in the NHIF. He is also known not a high performing MP at the constituency level and his decision of shifting from parliamentary politics is viewed by local pundits as an act of desertion from the electorate after dismal performance in the past.

Unfortunately, the same voters in the old Kisumu Rural constituency will be the same people, the Minister is expecting to vote or him to capture the more lucrative Senate seat, but which is promising to very competitive How he would be fairing on is nobody’s intelligent guesswork.

Eng Otieno Odongo, who is also a lawyer by profession, is a man of substantial means. He has established several medium and small scale cottage industries in Kisumu, where hundreds of local youths are currently employed, while his enterprising engineering consultancy firm is said to be contracted in many parts of the world appeared to be the man to watch in the impending contest, which the pundits have christened as the “Battle o Giants”.

KISUMU County is made of four Luo sub-clans, Namely Nyakach, Seme, Kisumo and Jo-Kano which is the most populous. If the clans arithmetic is anything to go y, then the Kano voters are expected to carry the day. But this might not be the case, and what expected to be o the play s party politics.

The region is an ODM stronghold. This one of the reasons why many residents of the ODM primary nominations, which is schedule on January 4,2013. This is the only sensible way of creating the level playing ground for all the aspirants who would be vying for the elective posts in various.

Eng Otieno-Odongo hails from Kochogo sub-clan in Kano plains, while Ocholla Ogoda originally came from Nyakach, but is family has settled in Muhoroni settlement area. He could still manage to harvest more votes in Nyakach, his original Songhor, Fort Tennan, Chemelil, Kopere.and Koru.

Prof Nyong’o hails from Seme community one of the major Luo-sub-clans living in Kisumu County. His previous role was to represent a small portion of the Jo-Kisumo sub-clan known a Kisumo Karateng’. The sub-clans happen to be the minority voters in the old Kisumu Rural constituency where the groups were grouped together with the Jo-Seme forming Kisumu Rural constituency since its inception in 1962.

However, Jo-Seme have had the lion’s share with their own sons represent the constituency ever since its inception with only the late John Robert Ouko a member of the Jo-Kisumo sub-clan having won the election for the first time in the late 1970s. Ouko had represented the constituency for only five years before he switched his political camp to Kisumu Town.
At the independence elections of 1963, the late Tom Okello Odongo was made the firs MP for Kisumu Rural. He was from the Jo-Seme-Group.He was followed by the late Whycliff Onyango Ayoki in the ate 1960s and Wilson Ndolo Ayah in the 1970s and later by Ochoro Ayoki in the late 1990s
Owing to the fact that that Jo-Seme had the superior in voting number, something which ha created ill-feeling among the Jo-Kisumu people and Jo-Seme. The two sub-clans, however, were recently separated with Jo-Kisumu people having their own constituency in Kisumu Town West which is mainly or the Jo-Kisumu, it would be an up-hill task for Nyong’o to succeed in successfully canvassing the Jo-Kisumu to vote for him in his bid for the Senate seat.

There is another sub-clan called Jo-Kajulu, which forms the part o Kisumu Town East constituency, but could essentially plays a, important ole as the source of a wing votes.

The Jo-Kano clan would definitely lay the claim on the Senate seat. This clan has spreads its wing into three administrative districts, namely Muhoroni, Nyando and Kisumu East and the Nyanza Sugar belt area. Eng Otieno Odongo stands a better chance of clinching the Senate seat going by the sub-clan arithmetic. However, the winner will depend on individual’s campaign style and strategies.

All the three aspirants are men of substantial means and well known personalities to the residents of Kisumu County and how each and every candidate would be interacting with the voters, though the soft spoken Eng.Otieno Odongo had the upper hand

Prof Nyong’o could only perform better if the odm boss Raila Odis own protracted battle for his presidential campaign and might no find time of coming to the rescue of his friend Nyong’o.

Ends