Reports Leo Odera Omolo In Siaya Town.

IT took the intervention of the Kenya government and the UIS Ambassador to Kenya to intervene in President Barack Obama’s Kenyan family to resolve a serious misunderstanding and dispute over the site where the Obama Kogelo Community Cultural Center should be established.

The US President Barack Obama jnr has ancestral root in Kenya’s Nyanza Province where his father the late Barrack Hussein Obama a former government op econoic is buried at the ancestral home in Nyang’oma village, Kogelo in Siyadistrict.

The construction of the Kshs 100 million projects in honor of President Obama’ had stalled following serious family dispute over which land plot the Kogelo Community Cultural Center should be construction. The dispute had threatened to derail the project when the government moved in and suspended the construction work, which had already started with building of the foundation slab.

The dispute pitted a local businessman Mr Nicholas Owino Rajula, a retired professional accountant Mr Joshua Otieno and a resident magistrate Mr Patrick Olengo. Each one of the three had made an offer for free land site at Nyang’oma Kogelo village in Siaya after word went round that the government would like to establish a memorial hall in the area to serve as a monument in honor of President Obama, and also serve as a community cultural center and partly as a tourist attraction.

It was Mr Rajula who first came forward with the offer of a free land measuring four acres. This was followed by Mr Joshua Otieno who also offered a five acres piece of land and the last was Mr Patrick Olengo, who work as a magistrate in Vihiga district in Western Province. He too had made an offer of five acres piece of land parcel.

At the initial stage, the Kenya government through the ministry of National Heritage ad appointed a technical committee consisting of top officials from the relevant Ministries and local community to work out the final touches of the site. The government had asked for a piece of land parcel with the facilities and enough space for future expansion of the complex. The technical committee’s other assignment was to ensure the communication and accessibility of the site.

After its evaluation work, which the local community suspect had been manipulated by some people with vested economic interest, the committee settled on the piece of land offered by Mr Rajula. And a tender for the construction work was floated at the district level.

,And the interested building contractors were asked t submit their applications making their bidding, which they did . The tender was hurriedly awarded to a local contractor who immediately moved into the site and started the work. All this was done without the consent nor consent or consultation with the Obama family.

With the Obama family itself there was a sharp differences between the88 year old Mama Sarah Obama,the step grandmother of the US President Barack Obama and the President’s step brother Mr Malik Abong’s, who is the late Barack Obama Snr eldest son. Abong’o fronted for Mr Joshua Otieno, while Mama Sarah Obama, who is the de facto head of the Obama family had settled on the land which was offered by Mr Patrick Olengo. She insisted that Mr Olengo’s offer meant a good gesture to the family which had raised him while he was a young man.

The dispute later boiled up and even some members of the Kogelo community had moved to court and filed an injunction stopping the construction work. The Obama family made it publicly clear, that it would have nothing to do with the complex and that the project’s name should be change from Obama Kogelo Community Cultural Center to simply read that Kogelo Community Cultural Center with the omission of the Obama’s family name.

But on Thursday, the Minister for National Heritage William Ole Ntimama in the company of the US Ambassador to Kenya William Reneberger made an abrupt and impromptu tour of the Kogelo Nyang’oma village and hastily held a reconciliation meeting at Nyang’oma Primary School. The Minister supported Mama Sarah Obama’s stand on the project saying that she was the de facto head of the Obama family, therefore her views must be entertained on any important project that touches the Obama family name. Most of the speakers at the meeting were in total support of Mama Sarah Obama arguing that her opinion and views were so important as he is the she was the head of the family.

Malik had told the gathering that Mr Joshua Otieno’s land was the most suitable as it was located next to Nang’oma market and could be easily access. Other sources blamed the Provincial Administration for meddling in the project and for openly favoring one of the land donors.

Also present during the discussions was Dr. Rita Auma, Barack Obama Snr eldest daughter who had also accompanied the team from Nairobi.

It was immediately realized that K sh 7 million, which was part of the Kshs 8 million initially released by the Heritage Ministry had already been spent on a shoddy foundation slab constructed on the site which is subject to heated dispute. The Minister added that he was not convinced that Kshs 7 milion had already been spent on that shoddy structure. “It appears that some grass root leaders were devolving corruption to the grass root when the government and donors were investing in checks”.

The US Envoy said that the election of President Obama in the United States has strengthened the diplomatic ties between Kenya and America. “And as America we will try to bring in tourists and visitors to this region.

Immediately soon after President Obama won the US Presidency, hitherto sleep and dusty Nyang’oma Kogelo village shoot into world class fame with thousands of foreign and local visitors began showing up. The government also sent a delegation of the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife led by the Minister Najib Balala who announced that Kogelo Nyang’oma village would soon be the most attractive tourist destination in Western Kenya and that the government would support the establishment of a tourist center honoring the birth place of President Obama’s late father.

Balala said the government would revive the forty year old run-down Western Kenya Tourist circuit, which has remained I the drawing board ever since it was proclaimed in 1967.

And soon after Balala’s team, followed by the entire team of the top officials from the Ministry of National Heritage led by the Minister William Ole Ntimama who made an impromptu announcement about the project and initially released Kshs 10 for the construction work on the project to start.

The Minister also announced the upgrading of the road leading to Nyang’oma Kogelo Market from either Siaya or Ndori . Water and electricity supplies followed in earnest and Nyang’oma Market was soon upgraded to a business hub in the region followed by a great influx of visitors who included foreign dignitaries. Batteries of foreign and local journalists thronged the village in search of news.

It is suspected that some unscrupulous business people immediately schemes for a kill and how to collaboration with the government official for the purpose of having a cut and making good of the forthcoming Kshs 100 million promised by he government for the complex and this became the source of discontent.

Ends

leooderaomolo@yahoo.com