Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Awendo Town.

ABOUT eleven chairmen from various civic bodies in the greater Southern Nyanza region gathered in Ndhiwa at the weekend and unanimously resolved to give their unqualified support to the embattled chairman of the Luo Council of Elders “Ker”Meshack Riaga Ogalo.

The group, which included local politician and opinion leaders and ODM party activists from several districts in the region gathered at the Unga village home of the Assistant Minister for Internal Security Joshua Orwa Ojode.

The group disowned the reported election of the new office bearers of the Cultural body headed by Mzee Opiyo Otondi, whose election took place in June after the alleged coup de tat that had ousted Riaga Ogalo and his team from the office. The new office bearers led by Otondi have since been registered by the Registrar of the Societies, while ousted Ogalo’s team has moved to the High Court challenging the validity of the report election of new office bearers.

The group threaten to form a splinter group of Elders in Southern Nyanza region, if those purported to have been elected a fresh were not ejected out of the office. They are in office unconstitutionally and should not be recognized by anybody.

The election of the new office besrers who are purported to have ousted Riaga Ogalo’s group took place at the Ofafa Memorial Hall, Kisumu in June 2010 after the Council had dissolved itself at a similar meeting held at the same venue towards the end of May this year. Some of the contentious issues, which led to the dissolution of the Council include the chairman’s secret visit to Libya without informing members of the Council’s executive committee. His acceptance of motor vehicle purported to have been donated by Paul Kamlesh Patni of the Goldenberg.

Other issues involved the control of funds earned from the rents payable by tenants operating businesses at the multi-purpose building complex, the Ofafa Memorial Hall in Kisumu, which was previously the property of the defunct Luo Union East Africa, a welfare organization which was banned along with other tribal organization by the retired President Daniel Arap Moi during the early part of his presidency in 1980s.

The Hall is reported to be fetching close to Kshs 100,000 monthly from rents payable by the various tenants, but its account was found to be allegedly in red and nobody seemed to be answerable as to where the money is or where the money goes.

Another group claiming to be the legally registered trustees of the defunct Luo Union East Africa had also moved to Court challenging the Council of Elders.

Earlier n May this year the Prime Minister Raila Odinga in the company of the Lands Minister James Orengo had visited the Ofafa Memorial Hall and addressed the meeting of the Luo Council of Elders under the chairmanship of the ousted Ker Meshack Riaga Ogalo and advised the Council of the need to hold regular election so that its members can gain public confidence. He told the group that the current office bearers of the Council were there only in acting capacity, but they had acted in that capacity for too long and therefore need fresh election so that they can restore the confidence of members of the community.

The ousted office is said to have been acting as the pressure group of the ODM and consisting of the former hard-core supporters of the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, who were inherited by his son Raila Odinga, but did not reflect the true representation of the Luo Community on cultural matters, but were part and parcel of the ODM.

How the group become members of the Council remained a mystery as non-was voted by their local communities at home. The qualification for one to become an elder also raised eyebrows due to the fact that its current members were also ODM party activists. Most of the Council members were only hand-picked from the ODM’s Kisumu office with no blessing from the general population in Luo-Nyanza.

And when the trouble started brewing, members of the general public saw it as a golden opportunity which could enable them to elect the proper office of the Luo Council of Elders which could be n on-aligned or affiliated to a particular political party.

The Ndhiwa resolution only came in the wake of an earlier sentiments expressed by the Minister for Public Service Dalmas Otieno who while addressing a fund drive meeting in Kasipul-Kabondo two weeks ago had expressed the support for the ousted Council chairman Meshack Riaga Ogalo saying the purported election which took place in Kisumu was unconstitutional and illegal.

The wrangling about the Council leadership is likely to have a negative impact on the Luo politics, and could easily split the community into two different camps opposed to each other with new political dimension and repercussion, which might not augur well with Raila Odinga’s presidential ambition in 2012.

In the political, scenario in which the huge support that Raila Odinga enjoyed in Southern Nyanza vanishing I the thin air, “Agwambo’s” control of the voting pattern in the region could evaporate.

A good number of MPs from the greater Southern Nyanza region are reported to be in solidarity with Ker Meshack Riaga Ogalo and have since disowned the new office bearers dismissing them as pretenders and strangers and have been calling for an immediate solution to the Council leadership wrangling.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com