The Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Delivery and Government Efficiency in the Executive Office of the President, Eliud Owalo has urged residents of Nyanza to abandon politics built around kingpinship and instead embrace leaders who prioritise tangible development.
Owalo dismissed the long-standing culture of political king-making, saying it has offered little value to ordinary citizens.
He said leadership should be anchored in service delivery, not personal influence or political theatrics.
“Why can’t our leaders be kingpins of development. Leadership must be about service to the people,” he said.
“If someone wants to be a political kingpin while ignoring the challenges facing the common mwananchi, that is a zero-sum game.”
Owalo said the region has for decades been trapped in cyclical political rhetoric that has done little to address everyday problems.
Since independence, he said, the obsession with personalities and political alignments has slowed down the region’s progress.
Instead, he urged voters to shift their mindset ahead of the 2027 General Election and elect leaders who can deliver concrete results.
“What people want are roads, clean water, electricity, revitalisation of the sugar belt, an upgraded Kisumu International Airport and fish processing plants along the lake,” he said.
Owalo said these are the things that matter to households.
The next phase of Kenya’s transformation must focus on economic empowerment, describing it as the third liberation, he said.
Kenya’s first liberation, he said, freed the country from colonialism, while the second brought the transition from a single-party state to multiparty democracy.
“The third liberation, from 2027 moving forward, must be economic liberation.That is where the real interests of the people lie.”
He urged voters to elect leaders driven by a development agenda and to reject political rhetoric that offers no meaningful progress.
