- The country's political bigwigs are tipped for another showdown as the battle shapes up for the upcoming Bonchari by-election.
- President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee's Jubilee party, Raila Odinga's ODM outfit and Deputy President William Ruto's affiliated United Democratic Party are bracing for a gruelling battle.
Image: FILE
The country's political bigwigs are tipped for another showdown in the upcoming Bonchari parliamentary by-election.
President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee Party, Raila Odinga's ODM and Deputy President William Ruto's United Democratic Party are bracing for a gruelling battle.
The entry of Jubilee in the race could raise the stakes for ODM, which is determined to use the by-election to assert its supremacy in Nyanza ahead of the 2022 polls.
In 2017, the Bonchari seat was won by the late John Oroo Oyioka, of the People' Democratic Party (PDP), who died last month.
The ODM party has picked former Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority boss Parvel Oimeke to fly its ticket.
The fledgling UDA outfit has settled on Teresa Bitutu, the late MP John Oroo's widow.
The ruling Jubilee Party is set to hand former area MP Zepedeo Opore its ticket on Monday.
The new battle is likely to test ODM's grip on Kisii politics.
There are concerns that the lack of a handshake candidate could jolt ODM's chances to capture its first parliamentary seat in the region since 2017.
However, ODM is set to roll out an aggressive campaign to capture the Bonchari seat buoyed by the resounding win in the just concluded Kiamokama Ward by-election.
They say winning the seat would revive its fortunes, which were partly dimmed by the poor showing in the 2017 polls.
Image: Courtesy
Party stalwarts from the region including Governor James Ongwae, Senator Sam Ongeri and ODM National Treasurer Timothy Bosire will lead the offensive to deliver the seat.
On Sunday, Kisii county woman representative Janet Ong'era said ODM will pull all the stops to bag the seat.
“It is no doubt that ODM is the most popular party in the region and as was demonstrated by the win in Kiamokama ward. We are going to affirm this by ensuring that the ODM winning streak continues,” she told the Star.
In what is seen as a first step to consolidate its machinery, the ODM party is going flat out to assuage jitters among party members following the nomination of Oimeke as its candidate.
Oimeke who is making his debut in politics, beat former Kisii County Water and Environment minister John Momanyi and businessman David Ogega to get the ODM ticket, triggering discontent.
However, in the first step to consolidate its house, ODM has managed to persuade Momanyi to accept the results although he has protested that the party erred in picking a graft suspect.
“The position I’m taking is not a popular one among the supporters, but for the love of the party and party leader Raila Odinga, I ask my supporters across the constituency to support a candidate of their choice in the by-election,” he said.
Image: JOHN OROO OYIOKA
Oimeke resigned from EPRA to vie for the seat amid an ongoing corruption case in court in which he is accused of obtaining a Sh200,000 bribe from a fuel station owner. He is out on bond.
However, the party has defended its decision saying the Kenyan Constitution presumes one innocent until proven guilty.
“The presumption of innocence until proven guilty is a cardinal rule. The party cannot convert itself into to determine the veracity of the corruption allegations. By denying Oimeke a chance to compete because of a pending case will be akin to pass a guilty verdict,” said ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna.
The by-election will also be influenced by voting patterns among sub-clans within the larger Bonchari clan, with Riana being the largest voting bloc with over 14,715 votes expected to play decisive.
Bomorenda is the second largest sub-clan with 14, 532 votes while Bogiakumu has 14, 338 votes.
Bomariba have roughly over 9,000 votes, according the official IEBC register.
Opore and Oimeke come the largest Riana sub-clan of Bonchari constituency but the latter is relying on the support of former area MP and ODM stalwart Charles Onyancha to get the support of Bogiakumu sub-clan.
Oimeke will be leveraging on his youthful age and his grassroots empowerment projects to turn the tables on Opore, his main challenger.
UDA's Teresa hails from Bomorenda sub-clan and so is former Kisii Woman Representative Mary Otara, who is running on the United Green Party.
Momanyi, popularly known as JB, comes from the Bomariba sub-clan.
While Ruto will be seeking to penetrate the Kisii region through the UDA party after falling out with Uhuru in Jubilee, the parliamentary race is of a major significance for Raila.
Despite ODM enjoying considerable support in Kisii, the party's 2017 dismal performance in the region saw it lose out on the three Parliamentary seats it had won in 2013. Jubilee won two seats in Kisii county in 2017.
In fact, even in the neighbouring Nyamira County, Raila's party has no single parliamentary seat while Jubilee has two.
In both neighbouring counties, ODM secured the women representative seats as well as the gubernatorial positions during the 2017 polls.
Image: BENSON NYANGESIBA
Ruto, who has been on an aggressive onslaught to penetrate the Kisii region through his 'hustler' movement, will be keen to test his fortunes.
His hustler team from Kisii is led by Deputy Governor Joash Maangi and South Mugirango MP Silvanus Osoro.