A SHAMEFUL BATTLE BETWEEN THE TWO WARRING LUO EDERS GROUPS RAGES OVER THE CONTROL OF OFAFA MEMORIAL HALL IN KISUMU CITY.

Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.

A silent, but shameful battle between the two warring groups of Luo Elders rages on despite an impeding hearing of a judicial review in court next week, to determine the ownership and custodians of Ofafa Memorial Hall in Kisumu City.

The battle is pitting the Luo Council of Elders and the Luo Elders, Cultural and Development. Each group is claiming legal custody of the property of the defunct Luo Union East Africa, which include the Ofafa Memorial Hall.

A group led by the Luo Council of Elders early this week forcefully moved and took the possession of the Ofafa Memorial Hall, and placed pad-locks in all its entrances. The group under the command of Mr Edward Adera Osawa, the deputy chairman of the Luo Council of Elders also posted a dozen of youths, or political goons, who are now guarding the building on  a day and night basis.

The original trustees, led by the former Chief of Police Michael Ochieng’ Obiero, were last night reported to be contemplating posting their own guards to the facility, causing fears of possible physical confrontation between the supporters and guards of the two groups at the facility.

According to a document in our possession, the Minister for Land James Orengo, had registered the new group of trustees on November 20th,2008 . The group of the new trustees consist of Mr Seth Oluoch, Joseph Oyuga Tado and Meshack Okello Ouma. This group was granted registration by the Minister for Land James Orengo, allegedly at the instruction of the Prime Minister Raila Odinga, despite the fact that another group of trustee, comprising of David Oluoch Opar, Wera Ambitho and Obare Aura had a registration still in force until October 2010.

The group that is backed by the Luo Elders,Cultural and Development, which is claiming to be the de facto custodians of Luo Union East Africa, a defunct welfare and cultural organization, moved to the High Courrt and obtained court injunctions that barred the Luo Council of Elders from entering the Ofafa Memorial Hall or carrying any businesses therein.

The status quo still remained the same, and the group further moved to the court for judicial review, whose hearing is schedule for December 16th,2009. The The original trustee now view the move by their rivals, and the forceful taking over of the Ofafa Memorial Hall as an act of flagrant defiance of court, which amounted to an open contempt of court.

But the Luo Council of Elders, under the leadership of “Ker” Meshack Riaga Ogalo, claimed that the instruction permitting them to move and take the possession of the property of the defunct Luo Union East Africa had come from above, implying it had come from the Prime Minister Raila Odinga.  Politically, the group is closely associated with the ODM party and allied to Mr. Odinga, and on occasions acting as his political pressure group inside Luo-Nyanza,

The memorial Hall was constructed with funds collected from members of the defunct Luo Union East Africa, which had its headquarters in Kisumu, but with strong and vibrant branches in Nairobi, Kampala, Dar Es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza, Nakuru, Mombasa, Eldoret, Jinja, Tanga,, Kericho and in all other urban centres in the entire East African region.

The original trustees of the Luo Union were Pastor Joel Omer, F.Adala Otuko and Mathews Ondiek in East Africa. The three were registered as the trustee of the organization on 3rd August 1956. And the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, acting as the first Ker of the Luo Union East Africa, with Mr. Adala Otuko as the organization’s secretary general. The group launched the funds drive for the construction of the multi-million shillings Ofafa Memorial Hall in Kisumu the same year.

The Hall was built as a monument in the memory of the late Mr. Ambrose Ofafa, one of the pioneer African Councilors in the City Council of Nairobi. Mr. Ofafa was shot and killed on Jogoo Road, in an area adjacent to Burma Market and Kaloleni estate, when his car had stalled by the roadside.

A gun man shot him dead. The killing was suspected to have something with the Mau Mau uprising, which was taking place at the material time, under the State of Emergency, which was declared by the  Colonial Governor in Kenya, Sir Evelyn Baring on October 20th,1952.. Another City Councilor, Mr Tom Mbotela, was also slain by the suspected Mau Mau adherents. The two were suspected to be collaborators with the colonialists.

After its completion and official opening in 1961, Ofafa Memorial Hall has remained under the custody of the Trustees of the Luo Union  East Africa all these years. But in the 1980s, the retired President Daniel Arap Moi banned all the tribal welfare organizations, the Luo Union East Africa included. During this ban period, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, while acting on his capacity as the patron of the Ramogi Institute of Advance Technology {RIAT}, handed over the management of Ofafa Memorial Hall to the Institute, which in turn turned it to be its Kisumu City Campus.

But the trustees moved to the court and secured the Hall back to its original status. This was after it had been established that Jaramogi was no longer a trustee of the Luo Union East Africa and therefore had no right of transferring any of its assets to another organization, without the express consultation and permission of the trustees.

This was the turning point, which was followed in earnest by the seemingly endless  legal tussles before the courts.

The Ofafa Memorial Hall has other facilities, such as a bar and restaurant, offices, church house and is believed to be earning close to Kshs 80,000 in rents each months, and the battles seemed to be targeting its resources.

Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com