•They will face Siaya Senator and ODM nominee James Orengo as they seek to replace outgoing Governor Cornel Rasanga.
•Ohito said the withdrawal of Owino from the race will not hurt their campaigns saying he exited procedurally.
Nicholas Gumbo, the United Democratic Party Siaya governor aspirant, has picked veteran journalist David Ohito as his running mate.
This comes after former police spokesperson Charles Owino pulled out as Gumbo's running mate.
Ohito is the UDM secretary general.
They will face Siaya Senator and ODM nominee James Orengo as they seek to replace outgoing Governor Cornel Rasanga.
“It is official. I have received communication from the UDM Elections Board, party leader Ali Roba and Gumbo, that I have been duly picked to be his running mate,” Ohito said.
He thanked the party and Gumbo for giving him a chance to serve the people of Siaya better.
Ohito said the withdrawal of Owino from the race will not hurt their campaigns saying he exited procedurally.
“Owino has withdrawn his candidature for personal reasons,” he said.
“We run a political party and there is never a shortage of politicians of good standing and great experience like myself. So there is no doubt that I fit the bid.”
Ohito has served as Mandera's chief of staff, running devolution programmes for the last four years.
He commended his competitors Tabman Otieno and Martin Barasa who pulled out of the race in support of his candidature.
Ohito, however, said Kenya National Police Service has its standing orders and terms of regulation of service and there was nobody who has been cleared by IEBC to participate in the election.
“Until the gazettement of candidates then you can say there is a candidate who has been cleared,” he said in response to a tweet from the KNPS that Owino had not resigned.
He said the matter is internal and it was up to the KNPS to deal with such.
“I hope it will not be drastic on him. He has been an outstanding officer and a good supporter of the matter,” Ohito said.
However, James Orengo's campaign communications director Victor Marende on Thursday laughed off the decision to fill the vacancy with Ohito.
“Ohito comes from Ugenya but, given a chance, the people of Ugenya will vote for their son who is seeking the top seat, not the deputy,” he said.
Voters somehow feel that the Orengo camp colluded with the state to elbow out Owino from politics to enjoy a smooth sail to the coveted county seat.
Marende has however refuted this saying their hand was not in it because they were always poised to beat the Gumbo-Owino pair.
“We did not influence anything because our candidate has been the strongest in this race and the most suitable to develop Siaya. We were also surprised to hear about his exit,” he said.
A source at the National Police Service on Wednesday said Owino’s resignation in February to join politics had been rejected.
Instead, Owino has reportedly been redeployed as the director of Kenya National Focal Point on Small Arms and Light Weapons.
Gumbo had, during a past interview, told the Star there had been attempts by his political opponents to snatch Owino from him and take him back into the police service.
Owino has been replaced at the eleventh hour, a time that clan politics and the ODM’s six-piece suit narrative are gaining momentum in the region.
He lives in Sega, Ugenya subcounty, but is a son of Alego Usonga subcounty. This fact was seen to secure votes for Gumbo’s fold from both Alego and Ugenya.
Gumbo hails from Asembo in Rarieda. In 2017, Gumbo enjoyed massive backing in Bondo. As of April 21, IEBC said there were 544,601 registered voters in Siaya.
Alego Usonga is the most populous with 123,529 voters, followed by Bondo with 110,204 voters. Gem is the third most vote-rich subcounty with 93,537 voters.
Rarieda comes fourth with 85,572 registered voters and Ugenya at position five with 67,206 voters. Ugunja is the least with 59,679 registered voters.
“Gumbo has no numbers currently and Orengo will win because he is only popular in Asembo, his clan back at home,” Marende said.
Orengo is a son of Ugenya and who was the region’s longest-serving lawmaker. This makes Ugenya and Ugunja his home ground.
Orengo has picked William Oduol, from Alego Usonga, as his running mate. Oduol was very popular in 2013 when he vied against former Bondo MP Oburu Oginga as governor.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday at the Siaya IEBC offices, Gumbo was confident saying that the person to be voted for is him.
“The substantive candidate is Nicholas Gumbo Wajonya, and I am here in person. I would not be here if I had any fears that my name would not be on the ballot,” he said.
Marende said that, during his tenure as Rarieda MP, Gumbo sidelined the Uyoma subclan.
“His enmity with the people of Uyoma is that he transferred the subcounty headquarters from Madiany to Aram. In Rarieda, Gumbo will not get all the votes,” he said.
Marende said Gumbo was popular in Bondo when he first vied for governor in 2017 but not anymore.
The Azimio la Umoja presidential candidate Raila Odinga and his brother Oburu Oginga who is set to be the next Siaya Senator hail from Bondo. That makes it a thorny ground for Gumbo.
“Bondo, and Siaya is an ODM zone. It will not be long before the ODM six-piece-suit campaigns sweep him (Gumbo) out of Bondo,” Marende said.
A source privy to the goings-on in ODM said Odinga is about to land in Siaya with the six-piece gospel, to endorse Oburu, Orengo, and other ODM candidates.
It is also good news to the Orengo camp that Alego-Usonga MP Samuel Atandi, his counterparts Elisha Odhiambo (Gem) and Gideon Ochanda (Bondo) have since been confirmed.
They have been given certificates as the ODM party nominees for the seats.
Patrick Ochieng, a political commentator from Gem, said with the conflicts in ODM now resolved, it becomes easy for ODM to clinch the governor seat.
“A place like Gem had started embracing Gumbo due to bungled ODM primaries. The scale is likely to tilt now that we are being told that Odhiambo has been given the certificate,” Ochieng said.
In his campaigns, Gumbo said having been in office for over 40 years, Orengo should show the people what he had done in terms of development.
“The seat is for working for the people, not a retiring seat,” he said on Sunday at St Panatellion Catholic Church in Siaya.
Edited by Kiilu Damaris