RUTO’S TRIUMPHANT ENTRY INTO RAILA ODINGA’S KISUMU HOME TURF COMES AS A RESULT OF DISGRUNTLED ODM LOCAL LEADERS AND THE YOUTH.

News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.

The last week triumphant entry into Kisumu City by the Agriculture Minister William Ruto caught local ODM leaders in deep slumber, and could serve as a deterrent warning to the party leader of the rapidly changing pattern of politics inside Luo –Nyanza.

Ruto’s visit came as a surprise to many residents. This is because Kisumu City is considered as the exclusive political zone of the ODM leader and the Prime, Minister Raila Odinga. It came at a time when “Agwambo” and his deputy have locked horns in a protracted war of supremacy within the party.

It was also within the same week when Raila Odinga had successfully masterminded the removal of his deputy-turned-arch-rival from the most important Parliamentary Business Committee.

To some of ODM dreaded youths, it was pay-day. Some of them are said to have lined their pockets with free money, ranging from 300, 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000 per person for their role in providing Minister Ruto with security protection in the unlikely event of heckling and booing happeneing. None of that happened however, and the Minster was well received by the residents, who listened to his brief speeches at the stop-over points in total silence.

Ruto first visited the Sugar Research Station, which is located at Kibos, in the outskirt of Kisumu City, and perhaps visited with the top managers of the nearby Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries, before making unscheduled triumphant entry into Kisumu City.

It is suspected that Ruto’s visit was pre-arranged by one unnamed director of the Kenya Sugar Board, who is working as a conduit ands a liaison contact between the Minister and some Sugar Millers operating within the Nyando Sugar Belt. The same contact is believed to have recruited the dreadful Kondele Bagdad Boys, who provided the security umbrella to the Minister and facilitated his visit to the violent Kondele and Manyatta suburbs.

Our source says the visit has since degenerated into jittery among the ODM local leaders on one side, and some Luo MPs on the other side. This is because the MP for Eldoret North is considered in this lakeside area as a spoiler, serving the interests of anti-Raila Odinga elements within the PNU and ODM-Kenya parties.

On the other hand, some level minded Luo politician would wish William Ruto to stay put in ODM as Raila Odinga’s deputy. Though the relationship between the easter while political friends has remained thorny and unpredictable for now, they see Ruto as the only politician in ODM who can balance the party. “Ruto’s presence in ODM could effectively work as check and balance against the PM’s excesses and dictatorial tendencies”, says an MP from Southern Nyanza region, who requested that hid identity should not be disclosed for fear of political reprisal.

Politicians from the greater Southern Nyanza have faulted Raila Odinga and his friends for insisting that all Luos must be kept in one Province, while those from the Southern Nyanza would wish to have their own province. The group wants a separation between the Luos of Southern Nyanza and those of Central Nyanza.

They want the area which includes the districts of Nyakach, Muhoroni, Nyando, Kisumu, Kisumu West, Rarieda, Bondo, Ugenya and Gem to be kept intact in one Province, with its headquarters in Kisumu.

The Southern Nyanza group want the district of Rachuonyo North, Rachuonyo North, Rangwe, Homa-Bay, to be placed in one Province, namely Southern Nyanza, with its headquarters at either Rongo or Homa-Bay.

But some of pro-Raila MPs from Central Nyanza have been heard chest thumping that they cannot allow the Luos to be sub-divided into two region, and that the community must be left intact as one unity. To which those anti-Raila elements in South Nyanza respond by saying “One Unity for continued political enslavement by the Odingas”.

The triumphant entry into Kisumu by Ruto last week has exposed Raila’s vulnerability and further revealed the existence of serious undercurrents, and intensive division among the Luo MPs.

It has also been established that some of the Luo MP do not wish to be involved in Raila political war with Ruto, arguing that the Minister for Agriculture had fought vigorously for Raila during the tallying of presidential votes at the KICC and has been steadfast in the ODM.

One MP was heard saying in a public joint in Kisumu, that Ruto’s opinion should be respected within the party hierarchy. Some of these Luo MPs also said they did not approve the role played by Raila against he eviction of thousands of Kalinjin squatters from the controversial Mau Forest Complex

It has since emerged that those who had assigned Raila Odinga the task of conserving the one important water Towesr in the country had some hidden ulterior motive. Their intention was to set the Prime Minister on a collision course with the entire Kalenjins and make him appeared to be an enemy of that community. It worked well for the schemers, separating the Prime Minister from the community that had voted for him man to man during the 2007 elections.

It has also emerged that some of the moderate minded Luo MP do not entertain the ongoing confrontation between Raila and Ruto, and feel that the Prime Minister should adopt a new, but pragmatic policy of consulting widely on any issue before it reaches the public domain.

This is the cause of the present total silences on the part of some of the hitherto outspoken Raila supporters among the Luo MPs, who would usually come out with blazing outbursts, but have now gone dead silent.

It appears also as if Raila Odinga has also burned his bridges with his staunchest supporters among the Luo MPs. Eight of these MPs are listed as being secretly supporting Ruto in his protracted war with Raila, while others are maintaining silence, but nursing diverse opinion about the ODM party’s future under thre Prime Minister’s leadership.

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leooderaomolo@yahoo.com