Eight line up to defeat Ranguma in Kisumu race amidst corruption claims

With six months to the general election, the race for Kisumu governor is still bloated, with eight hopefuls seeking to unseat incumbent Jack Ranguma.

The race is expected to be close given the front runners are Ranguma, Senator Anyang' Nyong’o, businessman Hezron Mc'Obewa and Deputy Governor Ruth Odinga.

The other aspirants are architect Christopher Ondiek, David Wayiera, a banker, UN World Food Programme official Asaka Nyangara, university professor Gordon Wayumba and surgeon James Obondi.

Nearly all the aspirants are seeking the ODM ticket, understandably because the party is the most popular in the region.

All the hopefuls are already on their campaign trail, crisscrossing the county and holding political rallies to sell their bid.

They have also been holding strategic meetings with their supporters as they try to outdo each other.

Nyong’o, McObewa and Ranguma, for instance, have met MCAs and other opinion seeking their support. Although they have point men at the ward level, they are yet to unveil their campaign teams.

Kisumu has seven subcounties — Nyakach, Kisumu Central, Muhoroni, Nyando, Seme, Kisumu West and Kisumu East.

Ranguma and McObewa come from Nyando and Muhoroni (formerly Nyando district), respectively, and are from the Kano clan.

Nyong’o comes from Seme, while Nyangara and Ondiek hail from Nyakach.

On the other side, Wayumba, Wayiera and Obondi are from Kisumu West.

It remains unclear whether Ranguma and Odinga will seek reelection together because she has accused the governor of undermining her.

The two have constant differed on policies, governance, war on corruption and distribution of county resources.

Sources reveal the incumbent might opt to pick another running mate, with Billy Kariaga from Kisumu West having declared interest.

Odinga, sister to ODM party leader Raila Odinga, has also accused Ranguma of nepotism and clanism, claims she says are evident in county job appointments.

She recently accused Ranguma of undermining and frustrating her, after her boardroom was partitioned to accommodate his political advisors — Phillip Obiero and Grace Jobita.

She claimed Ranguma wants to displace her because she now wants his job. But county director of administration Titus Omanyi denied the allegations and said Odinga;s office has not been subdivided.

He said the county only reduced the size of the reception to accommodate Jobita and Obiero.

Odinga's candidacy cannot be taken lightly because as she commands more than 280,000 votes, mainly from non-natives, who have also accused the governor of exclusion in his government.

Ranguma has, however, dismissed the allegations, saying they are aimed at dividing the people along tribal and clan lines.

Senator Nyong’o and Ondiek have accused Ranguma of failing to fight corruption in his administration.

They have also faulted the governor for failing to fulfill his 2013 campaign pledges.

McObewa, a former ally of Ranguma, says he fell out with the governor because of high level corruption, nepotism, and clannism in his government.

“He has failed and neglected this city. Just walk around Kisumu and you will see it is choking from garbage. This pushing investors away from this city,” McObewa told the Star.

He also warned Odinga and Nyong’o not to rely on their closeness to the opposition leader in clinching the ODM seat.

“The race for Kisumu governor will be among

Ranguma, Nyong’o and I. All I demand is free, fair and credible nominations to avoid any fallout,” he added.

McObewa, who is also a medical doctor, says the health sector in the county is on the verge of collapse because of the emerging problems since the onset of devolution, and that the county has failed to create an conducive business environment.

“Kisumu has the potential to compete with Nairobi and Mombasa, but we are now almost being overtaken by Eldoret in Uasin Gishu and Nakuru towns. If elected, I will ensure Kisumu becomes a conferencing and tourism hub. Development of Lakefront Development Initiative is also important. Kisumu needs a new captain and that none other than me,” McObewa said.

Lakefront is an ambitious development initiative between the Kisumu county government and the United Nations Habitat to develop the shoreline.

McObewa, who is involved in hospitality industry, health sector, and NGO world says Ranguma has become a ‘tourist governor’, claiming he has spent in excess of Sh400 million on foreign trips.

“Those foreign trips are useless. He has nothing to show that the county has benefitted from the trips,” adds McObewa.

“The county has not recorded any tangible development due to massive corruption at the county government,” Ondiek said.

He said many people are still languishing in poverty, which he attributed to bad governance.

Ondiek, 33, demanded for accountability, saying corruption has greatly affected service delivery.

Kisumu has been on the spot over various graft allegations, including the embezzlement of Sh285 million for the ward development fund.

Ranguma, however, accuses MCAs and the governor aspirants for allegedly faking the graft allegations.

He defended

his war on graft saying, he has invited various agencies, including KRA, EACC and DCI to do a lifestyle audit of all the county officers, following the allegations of misappropriation of funds in his government.

Senator Nyong’o has also accused the governor of running down the county through corruption, leading to poor service delivery and slow development progress.

He has demanded that Ranguma accounts for the county expenditure, running into billions of shillings.

In June last year, the governor appeared before the Senate over Sh13 million his administration had borrowed to facilitate foreign trips by MCAs.

In his defence, he claimed the allegations were all made up, saying,""The work of Senator Nyong’o has always been to ensure that I am summoned to the Senate. He has been collecting all kinds of papers even those in the garbage to implicate me."

But McObewa has also asked Ranguma to also account for an imprest of Sh893 million queried by the Auditor General.

He said a lifestyle audit of all senior county staff is not enough in the war on corruption.

Ranguma, however, expressed confidence of retaining his seat and warned those eying his seat to prepare for a resounding defeat.

He said his plans for the county ccouldn't be accomplished in five years, and therefor, needs another term to complete the projects he has started.

He said despite of challenges the counties have faced, his administration has achieved a lot in terms of roads improvement, street lighting, health, education, agriculture and industrialisation, among others.

“We have rehabilitated more than 900km of roads and built health facilities with more than 450 health workers hired to improve service delivery,” he said.

He said more than 510 students are on full scholarship with more than 6,000 elderly on special schooling programme.

“Some of those angling for the seat have nothing to show for their many years in leadership positions. Residents must, therefore, evaluate their track record,” he said.

Ranguma said majority of residents are impressed with his leadership style of inclusion.

In defending his performance, he said “My track records speak volume since I took over the office. Devolution is a new concept and I spend the last three years to put structures in place.”

He blamed Senators for derailing full implementation of devolution following constant war with governors of non-beneficial issues to residents.

Ranguma said the legislators have failed to champion and safeguard devolution and were instead focusing on how to unseat governors.

He noted gains under their leadership despite many challenges counties are facing, most of them orchestrated by the national government and enemies of devolution.

Ranguma alleged that Nyong’o has been working with some politicians to implicate him and ensure he appear before the senate committee.

Analysts said the governor race will be based on corruption, development and inclusivity in governance.

Jared Okello, a political analyst ,said it will not be easy to unseat the incumbent because he has starting point unlike his opponents.

“Ranguma has upper hand to defend his seat considering that he has some of the projects to tag on his campaign,” he said.

“Whoever will win the ODM ticket in a free and transparent nominations will be the governor,” Okello said.

He argued that Nyong’o's brand of politics has always not gone well with the residents and even his development track record is not impressive.

Kano, with their numerical vote strength have two candidates who have to decide whether they want to retain the seat or lose the seat, he said.

To address the current exclusion in present county government, Okello said elders from the seven subcounties deliberate on how best seats can be distributed.

“If this is not done then Kano with massive votes can exercise their numerical strength to bag nearly all the seats. This can generate hatred and outcry among the residents especially non-natives,” he said.

In 2013, Okello said there was no formula for sharing the elective seats as was witnessed in Homa Bay. This generated a lot of outcry in the county as most seats went to Kano clan.

Ranguma (Kano), Women Representative Rose Nyamunga (Kano), Senator (Seme), Deputy Governor (non-native) from Siaya, county assembly speaker (Seme) and leader of majority (Kano).

Political analyst who sought anonymity said that Ruth, a kin to Raila, will not win the election even if she is given ODM ticket.

He argued that being Raila’s sister will complicate her candidature because it might be viewed that leadership in Nyanza region is only for Odinga family.

He added that women are their worst enemies and are unlikely to vote for her, in fear that she will not champion their interest.

The analyst said the best achieve for now is to be the running mate of either Ranguma or Nyong’o.

He said Ranguma, being incumbent has resources and projects he can show and defend unlike Ruth and Nyong’o.

Okello said aspirants have to put well-structured campaign strategy considering strong opponents eying the seat.

“He can be re-elected because he already has incumbent votes. He is on the ground and impacts can be felt even if it might not be that much. At least he can point some projects implemented while in office,” he said.

At his backyard, Seme, his constituents have accused him of poor development despite having represented them for decades.

Nyong’o’s kind of leadership seems to electorates that he does not have serious public management in terms of leadership and politics.

This, he said is likely to cost Nyong’o the seat even if given ODM ticket in 2107. The style of leadership of Nyong’o appears to electorates that he does not have serious public management, he said.

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