By Leo Odera Omolo in Kisumu City

POLICE in Ahero town, Nyando district within the Kisumu County were at the weekend forced to lob tear gas canister against a section of unruly crowd that turned up to welcome the Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his entourage.

Two former MPs for Nyando and Muhoroni constituencies were the new targets for booing and heckling. These were the Muhoroni MP Prof.Patrick Ayiecho Olueny, who is also an assistant Minister for education and Fred Outa the former Nyando MP.

Raila travelling with a team of cabinet Ministers and MPs were on their way to Kisumu after addressing a series of campaign rallies in Kipkellion and Nandi Hills which the incident occurred. During his brief stop at the Chemelil roundabout, the residents booed and heckled Prof.

Accompanying the Prime Minister were the Lands Minister James Orengo, Local Government Minister Fred Gumo, Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey, Health Services Minister Prof.Anyang’ Nyong’o, Energy Assistat Minister Magarer Lang’at Prof.

The crowd became highly agitated after the Prime Minister tried to introduced the two local MP and told the audience that they should vote on six piece voting pattern, saying that he needed to win the presidency with a strong and experienced team.

The situation remained the same at Awasi, but it developed into very noisy when the group reached Ahero town.The crowd disapproved the candidature of both Ayiecho Oluenya {Muhoroni}, and Fred Outa {Nyando} arguing loudly that the two did not win the elections during the recently concluded, but much flawed ODM primary nomination.

During the violence confrontation between the police and the crowd which fought the running battles into the nearby villages, Ahero-Oyugis-Kisii and Ahero-Kisumu road was blocked from 5.30 P.M. to 8 P.M. Motorists stopped and parked their vehicles by the roadside. They included Matatus,tracks and buses. their vehicles voluntarily while fearing the worse and having them damaged by flying stones.

It became apparently clear that the six piece voting system would not work inside Luo-Nyanza,though the Prime Minister has been crusading for this system aggressively wherever he goes.

The bone of contention everywhere is that the majority of the aspirants for the various elective positions who were sanction by the ODM and cleared by the IEBC to contest the election were not adequately elected by the popular votes, and therefore lacked the blessing of the electorate. The electorate as result are insisting that they should be allowed to cast votes on individual personality cult and not on party line due to the flopped ODM nominations.

Prof Ayiecho Olueny is facing the populist Nairobi businessman James Onyango K’Oyoo who had won the rim\ry in Muhoroni with landslide, but who the ODM party big-wigs had rigged and denied victory, which was corruptively handed over to Prof. Olueny.

In Nyando J.Okello a youthful aspirant had trounced Fred Outa, but the ODM headquarters issued Outa with the nomination certificate to the chagrins of the voters.

Ends