Reports leo Odera Omolo
This month’s general election has seen the sudden return into political limelight of the former firebrand Rangwe MP Dr. Shem Ochuodho.
Dr Ochuodho a genius computer engineer represented Rangwe constituency in Homa-0Bay district between 1997 and 2002.He had won the seat on an NDP ticket beating the late Mrs Phelgona Okundi of KANU in a controversial election battle which saw the two ending up before a court of law on charges of assault and causing damages to property.
The charges landed Ohuodho in jail in Kisumu in Kodiaga Prison for a month before he was released on appeal.
Thereafter Ochuy 0odho and Raila Odinga parted the company. And the two became bitter rivals The computer scientist could not stomach the culture of political worshipping, which is normally ascribed by Raila close Lu0 supporters.Tips led to a series of bloody violence battle with between his supporters in Homa-Bay town and a group of hired political goons ferried in Nissan vans from Nairobi to Homa-Bay town ready to cause mayhem.
Prior to the 2002 general election, Raila Odinga had formed an alliance with the apologist and wealthy Eng.Phillip Okoth Okundi who had served the KANU regime in various capacities as KPA MD and also the MD of Kenya Broadcasting Corporation and finally the Kenya Bureau of the Standards as its MD.
After losing the Rangwe seat to Okundi, Dr Ochuodho was appointed the MD of the Kenya Oil Pipeline Company, a parastatal where he worked briefly before leaving in huff. He then joined the Rwandan government in Kigali as ICT consoltuant for close to three years before returning home and engaged in business as a consultant.
And until very recently, Dr Ochudho was an ICT adviser to the South Sudan government based in Juba. It was in Juba where the head of Safina party Paul K Mute fished Dr Ochuodho last month and made him is running-mate in the just concluded presidential race in Kenya.
The pair, however, made very little impact in the just concluded Presidential contest,-perhaps due to lack of preparation and sufficient logistics, but the exercise brought Dr Ochuodho back into political limelight as he was able to bring Paul Kabugi Muite to many interior parts of Luo-Nyanza in their joint hunt for votes.
Rumors making the round in Homa-Bay and its environs says Dr Ochuodho and a good number of intellectuals in various parts of Southern Nyanza would soon launch a major and second largest political party to rival Raila Odinga’s ODM following its last month flawed and poorly managed primary nominations exercises in the region./
Dr Ochuodho is a highly respected leader, particularly in the greater old
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