Beleaguered Migori governor Zachary Okoth Obado passes off as an ordinary politician. But the former high school teacher who talks with a typically deep Dholuo accent has rapidly risen from oblivion to a millionaire politician with massive political following in his backyard.
Despite his image of a simple and amiable Kenyan politician, police paint a picture of a man whose appetite for wealth and the fine things of life is unrivaled.
Faced with by a litany of court cases, including a capital offence, Obado's tribulation have raised the question: Is he a criminal or a victim of political machinations?
In what has lifted the lid on Obado's not so familiar lifestyle, police on Tuesday seized eight guns from his homes which they claim he illegally possessed.
To his backers, the guns could be part of a plot to cut the close ally of Deputy President William Ruto to size.
Obado's life lately reads like a Hollywood movie, jumping from one controversy to the next. In what baffled many, for instance, EACC investigators claim the governor and his children flew to Australia carrying Sh4.5 million in US dollars. The money was allegedly laundered at a high-end casino. The anti-graft agency, however, did not reveal whether the governor was gambling.
Educated at St Joseph Rapogi and later Kenyatta University, Obado was little known until he contested and was elected as director of the Kenya Sugar Board representing farmers in the Sony sugar zone. He served as a director for three terms, during which he worked closely with the late Ndhiwa MP, Orwa Ojode, in pushing for the establishment of the sugar factories in Ndhiwa (Sukari Industries) and Trans Mara.
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During his stime at the board, Obado, who is described by former colleagues as “stubborn and hard-headed”, spent time studying for his degree at Kenyatta. “He had nothing. We used to take tea with him in low end restaurants in the city and plan our struggles at the board,” a former colleague told the Star, expressing shock at the figures being associated with the former head teacher.
His fortunes however began to turn when William Ruto became minister for Agriculture and he was involved in the programme of subsidized agriculture as well as sugar reforms.
As the factories were established, Obado used his connections to have many youth from the area employed thereby cementing his connection with the farmers and locals. They would become his army of supporters when he contested for governor.
A staunch Seventh Day Adventist and elder, Obado’s love for fine things emerged soon after he rode to power in 2013. His rural mansion in Rapogi from which he has been barred by the courts from visiting was an instant sensation. The EACC claimed that the house cost up a whopping Sh100 million. The house is located in a sleepy and dusty village on the outskirts of Migori town.
Besides the posh residence, the governor was accused of buying a luxurious bed costing one million shillings. The controversy dragged on for a while soon to be replaced with even more sensational suff. In September this year, 11 senior officers in Obado’s administration were charged with purchasing Sh20 million furniture for the governor’s residence.
But what has made eyes turn is the claim by EACC that Obado, though proxies, has siphoned over Sh2.5 billion from Migori county coffers. The agency has filed a suit to seize the assets of the allies estimated at over Sh382 million.
But despite the controversy that has dogged his life, friends and foes alike acknowledge Obado's political acumen. He is undoubtedly astute at political mobilization, which observers say is the magnet drawing Ruto close to him.
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Days after his release from remand over the gruesome murder of his lover Sharon Otieno, the Ruto-Obado camaraderie appeared to blossom. Ruto, in fact, visited Migori, the political bedrock of his nemesis Raila Odinga twice in a week. At one of the fucntions, Obado asked his audience to allow him to walk with Ruto for the sake of the development of Migori. He proceeded to ride in the same chopper with Ruto to a function in central Kenya.
Since then, the duo has been attending public functions together until their dalliance was punctured by Obado's dramatic arrest on Wednesday. Obado was with the DP at a meeting with development partners at the Hilton Hotel when he learnt of the move to arrest him. He was nabbed after he left the meeting in a bid to evade the dragnet.
Back in Migori, the governor has been battling to keep his ground since falling out with the ODM party on which he was re-elected. He accuses ODM party leader Raila Odinga of masterminding his woes.
“These other many stories like this one of mamba (crocodile) which is not even in the Bible we rebuke strongly. I am aware that there are a few people who want to force me into the mouth of the crocodile,” Obado claimed last week in a veiled attack on Raila.
Although he was in remand, Obado is believed to have helped youthful Edie Okech, the Federal Party of Kenya candidate, in the recent Migori senatorial by-election. Most of his agents and the campaign network was inherited from Obado.
Okech lost to ODM's Ochilo Ayacko but not without putting up a vicious fight that drew in Raila and the party’s political machinery.
In two previous elections, the former chairman of the Kenya Sugar Board and father of three floored giants.
In his first term, he broke ranks with Raila after the party denied him the gubernatorial ticket. He decamped to the little-known People’s Democratic Party and narrowly defeating ODM’s Prof Okongo Oyugi despite the strong political wave in the region. That thrust up the debutant’s political profile.
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Oyugi was part of Raila's think tank appealed against Obado’s victory (by less than 200 votes) but the court upheld the win in 2014 and Obado served a turbulent term as governor ina predominantly ODM zone.
Fearing his growing influence, ODM made a strategic retreat and handed the former high school teacher the ticket after acrimonious party primaries in 2017. But the campaigns were marred with chaos and bloodletting.
A rally addressed by Mombasa governor Ali Hassan Joho in Migori was violently disrupted and his bodyguard shot at during the melee blamed on Obado's supporters.
Obado of couse denied any association with the hooligans but speculation has persisted on the grouund that a gang –– locally known as Sangwenya –– is his tool for terrorising critics.
“He has made the county almost a family fiedfdom. Anyone who criticizes him is not safe,” said one knowledgeable source on condition of anonymity. “His ardent supporters are stationed in almost all markets and social places where people gather. If you criticize him, you will not know who hit you. It is a reign of terror.”
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