• Akinyi is vying on the Maendeleo Party ticket and Ombaka on ODM.
• The aspirant says she is targeting women and youth.
Image: JOSIAH ODANGA
Emma Akinyi Ogola alias Toto wa Siaya, 25, has intensified her campaigns in her bid to unseat Siaya Woman Representative Christine Ombaka.
Akinyi is vying on the Maendeleo Party ticket, while Ombaka is in ODM.
Other contestants seeking the seat are Sella Ayimba of Movement for Democracy and Growth, and independent candidates Caroline Onyango and Midred Ochieng’.
Ombaka is seeking a third term.
Akinyi said she is targeting women and youth.
“We have had devolution for the last 10 years but the potential of Siaya is yet to be tapped. Now is the time to tap into such potential,” she told a gathering at St Pantellion Catholic Church in Siaya last week.
Akinyi said unemployment and underdevelopment prompted her to jump into the murky waters of politics.
She said most graduates in the county resort to operating boda bodas because “it is currently the easiest thing to do”.
“I'm going to create jobs, mobilise investors to bring companies to Siaya and initiate social enterprises to enable young people to start businesses and develop themselves,” Akinyi said.
She said Siaya has a lot of untapped resources, the most obvious being the lake that has existed for the longest time but not a single fish processing plant.
If elected, she promised to use the National Government Affirmative Action Fund to alleviate women and youth from poverty.
Akinyi is aligned to the wing of the United Democratic Movement’s gubernatorial candidate Nicholas Gumbo.
They have been campaigning together and Gumbo has openly vouched for her candidacy.
Ombaka is supporting governor aspirant James Orengo, and has been drumming up support for ODM six-piece voting pattern.
"I feel Gumbo is the best and beseech the people of Siaya to elect him. However, I urge Siaya people to elect the best candidate who has the interest of the people at heart,” she told journalists in Siaya town.
Akinyi said people risk falling into the abyss of poverty if they fail to elect individuals with plans to develop the county.
“Vote for me so that I can go and make a positive contribution into the economic situation of our people,” she said.
Akinyi comes from Komenya-Kowala village in West Alego, Alego-Usonga constituency. She is enjoying a huge backing from her vote-rich constituency.
During a meeting with IEBC leaders in Siaya last week, Ombaka said, “Forms of violence are palpable on the ground and lately on social media. People insult some of us, saying that we are old.”
She challenged the IEBC to take action on such people to level the playing field.
Ayimba is promising, among other things, to start a textile centre in the county if elected.
“One of my legacy projects as a woman rep will be to put up a textile centre to create employment for youth, women and people with disabilities,” she told the Star.
Ayimba, however, has an uphill task selling MDG party beyond Ugenya constituency where its party leader MP David Ochieng hails from.
The MDG party leader is supporting governor aspirant Orengo.
Edited by A.N