Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Say Town.

JOE Donde the former Gem MP who is considered as one of the most articulate and highly polished politicians inside Luo-Nyanza is the man moist favored to clinch the powerful position of Siaya County governor come March 4th,2013.

The signs of Donde’s impending victory in the contest for the powerful position of Siaya County governor were visibly witnessed during the last Sunday ODM campaign rally held in Siaya Town and which was attended by a huge crowd of ODM supporters.

The campaign rally was called by the Lands Minister James Aggrey Orengo. The Ugenya MP also used the meeting for officially launching his campaign for the Siaya County Senate seat. The contest for the Siaya County Senate seat has become so controversial due to the fact that it pitted the two regional political power base.

It pitted Orengo and the Finance Assistant Minister Dr. Oburu Odinga, who is the MP for Bondo and the elder brother of the Prime Minister Raila Odinga. So far there are no signs that the PM will come to the aid of his brother. Both Orengo and Dr Oburu Odinga are considered as the closest political advisers of Raila Odnga.

The last Sunday meeting came in the wake of another controversial rally held at the same venue the previous week. The controversial rally was convened by Dr. Oburu Odinga and his supporters. The Finance Assistant Minister also used the rally to launch his campaign for the Siaya County Senate seat.

It turned chaotic when a group of people suspected to the hired goons storm the venue and causing those in attendance to dispersed in disarray after a man carrying a panga {machete} was spotted mingling with the crowd and moving menacingly towards the direction of the dais. Dr Odinga’s security detail and supporters wrestled the man to the ground and beat up u mercilessly before the man was frog-matched to the nearby Siaya Police station where the man was locked up in police custody.

Within minutes the accomplices of the man had regrouped and matched to the police station and storm it with the demand that the man be released forthwith, they too were overpowered and nine of them were apprehended and taken into police custody.

Addressing the mammoth crowd, Orengo said that he had offered his candidature and wanted to serve the Siaya people as their Senate representative, therefore it was jp to the residents of the region to decide. He had come forward and wanted to conduct his campaign in a peaceful manner, adding that he had no feeling of enmity to Dr. Oburu Odinga, it was therefore up to the electorate to decide as to who should be their Senate after the polls slated for March 4, 2013., In attendance were the Sports Minister Dr.Paul Otuoma, Rangwe MP Martin Otieno Ogindo, Alego Usonga MP Edwin Ochieng’ Yinda and the Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo- who is also the government Chief Whip Jakoyo Midiwo who is also the government Chief Wip and a maternal cousin of Dr.Oburu Odinga., civic leaders from all over Siaya County representing six constituencies.

It emerged that behind the scene reconciliation meetings have been going on for sometime, but these meeting had produce no amicable solution as the two D Odinga and Orengo instead that they will go full length to the ballot boxes.

Jakoyo Midiwo whose mentor is arguably Dr. Oburu Odnga launched the most scathing criticism of the Finance Assistant Minister charging that instead o working for an amicable solution to the issue, he was issuing threats. Leaders in Siaya County had agreed that all the elective positions either in the County governance, national assembly, senate or governorship would be shared proportionately.

In the previous week’s rally convened by Dr.Oburu Odinga which was held in at the same venue, ony one MP ha attended the meeting. He was eng. Nicholas Gumbo the MP for Rarieda who is the only one supporting Dr. Odinga. It has since emerged that the rest of Siaya ODM leadership are firm in their support for Orengo.

In the case of Joe Donde, he will square it with his fellow man from Gem constituency Julius Okinda

Born I the house of a former senior journalist Isau Donde Odinga who retired shortly before his demise in the late 1970 after serving the government in various capacities and finally as the Provincial Information Officer, Nyanza

Soft-spoken and well mannered Joe Donde is also the brother of the former career diplomat at one time Kenya’s Ambassador to Egypt ms Mary Donde who retired after heading many of the country’s diplomatic missions abroad, Joe Donde lost his Gem seat to Jakoyo Midiwo in 1997 and has since kept a low profile preferring to work quietly as an international consultant.

Siaya County has six parliamentary constituencies, namely Raried, Bondo, Gem, Alego-Usonga, Ugenya and the newly created Ukwala which was curve out of Ugenya by the IEBC as part of the newly created addition 80 seats.

Judging from the utterances of the people I the huge crowd which had attended the campaign rally called by Orengo the governorship will definitely go to Joe Donde who is headed for a landside election victory an will be the next Siaya County representative in the Senate.

ENDS