Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Rongo Town.

SOUTH MUGIRANGO constituency will not be fertile and pleasant ground for what the residents have termed as “political tourism” during the electioneering campaign for the by-election scheduled to be held on June 10, 2010.

A clandestine group of youth, which claims to represent all the competing political parties have warned the outsiders to keep of the area, especially during campaign period.

The group was reacting to a press statement issued last Thursday by two ODM MPs from the South Rift region who are allied to the Higher Education Minister William Ruto who had pledged their support for the former area MP Omingo Magara.

The two MPs were Isaac Ruto Chepalungu and Dr. Julius Kones {Konoin}. The statement of the support for Magara issued by the two could even work to the downfall of the former, taking into account that the Kipsigis and the Abagusii communities are known not to be good neighbors.

The two said, “Although the law bars us from campaigning openly for a candidate running on another party, we will give Magara total support.” Kones was quoted by a local media house as having said this, adding, “there are many avenues of helping Magara win 5the seat and we will stand by him because he is a true friend.”

Isaac Ruto on his part said “We have not made a decision as a team, but we will meet soon to plan for Magara’s campaign.”

Ruto further state that ‘Magara deserve an opportunity to defend his seat since the court nullified his elections “because of mistakes made by the defunct Electoral Commission of Kenya and not him.”

“We are aware that the battle will not be easy, but we have the capacity to steer Magara to victory,” he added. The outspoken Chepalungu MP who defiantly ignored the fact that his own party,the ODM has already nominated six aspirants to contest its preliminary nomination.

Local ODM leadership in Soiuth Mugirango have called fore the immediate expulsion of Ruto and Kones by the party headquarters for openly campaigning for another party.

The leaders told the ODM to instill disciplinary in the party at all levels, MPs included. PDP and ODM are two different set of entities and are not affiliated to each other in anyway. “If the two legislators have already ditched ODM, they should say so and resign their parliamentary seats”, said Mr.J.Ombasa, the ODM’s spokesman.

In their anonymous statement, the youths said they would not allow political tourists to go and pollute the political air in South Mugirango. Hey reminded the two Kalenjhin MPs that during the November 2007 campaign fore the general election William Ruto and Magara were made to flee from the area minus their shoes. Ruto lost one of his shoes as they took to their heels with a group of armed Chinkororo militia youths in hot pursuit when the two defiantly ignored the warning by local leaders and made an attempt to attend an Harambee meeting, which was being presided by the Ford People party leader Simeon Nyachae in the area.

“Our people are peaceful, and we want all the aspirant to move about and campaign freely. This will leave the room for the electorate to choose the one they preferred to be a better candidate for the job. But we shall not entertain outsiders to come here and polarize the existing peaceful atmosphere. ”

Meanwhile local says that Magara had stand a good chance of recapturing his seat had he stayed on in the ODM, but his last week defection to a little known PDP has ruined his otherwise good chances of recapturing the seat. He will have to work hared extra time to be able garner enough votes. Facing the populist ODM candidate in the area would be an uphill task.

The ODM board of elections had made it clear that it had any particular in mind it favored for the seat will not be a repeat of the usually flawed party nominations. If the right person clinch the party ticket with satisfaction of other aspirants, who in turn will campaign for the party, then the ODM is the party to watch.

The real battle for the ODM ticket is expected to center around the two aspirants, namely Ibrahim Ochoi the former Uriri High School Principal and Zebedeo Nyaboga. These are the people to watch. But one cannot dismiss the former area MP J. Kombo as a spent force. He is standing on Ford Kenya ticket.

Clan politics is expected to play a pivotal role. Also the ability to provide the election logistics and economic power will also judge the best candidates. Outsiders influence would be rather insignificant, especially the expected intervention by the Higher Education Minister William Ruto is said not to be selling well in the area to match that of his rival the Prime Minister Raila Odinga who is the most popular individual in South Mugirango.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com