By Anderson Ojwang
A conversation on the sticky, thorny and emotive quality of leaders elected to the Parliament, County Assembly, Senate and Governor in Nyanza is gaining momentum, with various leaders, scholars and residents voicing concern.
The debate now zeroes in on why Luo Nyanza have subsequently elected leaders based on patronage, and financial strength instead of quality, merit, performance parameters, and academic and leadership acumen.
Deputy Chief of the Staff, in charge of Performance and Delivery Management Mr. Eliud Owalo last weekend in Uyoma village of Rariada constituency took the bull by the horn before party leader of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Raila Odinga over the quality of leaders from the region elected to various posts in every election.
ODM is the predominant party in Nyanza in the last four elections namely 2007, 2013, 2017 and 2022 where it has won nearly all the parliamentary, senate, governor and county assembly seats and enjoys a fanatic following.
An ODM ticket is an assurance to an elective post in Nyanza with voters preferring to vote on party lines following the party’s mantra of “ our house is one and we have war ahead”.
Owalo said the time had come for the community to interrogate the quality of leaders elected by the community in each subsequent election.
“ One lesson we learn from the late Roseline Odede is that it is important to have individuals of impeccable credentials and proven track records to hold positions in this country.
Roseline excelled in everything that she did, all the positions she held in the public sector. And I want to challenge all professionals who are here, not to shy off from holding positions in public spaces.
Roseline has done it and you can equally do it. To the ladies who are here, Roseline has shown you that you can equally do it.
It is time for us professionals from Nyanza to interrogate the quality of leaders that we have elected in the recent past,
As professionals from Nyanza, we must interrogate the quality of leadership more so in the political space. These people come from nowhere and then declare that they are contesting for a seat, just because they have some little money to distribute out.
Let us interrogate the quality of leadership we have in this region. So that we can have the best at the county assembly level, the best at the parliamentary level, the best at the governor level, and the best at the senate level.
This is how we can bring transformative leadership at all levels so that we can have a paradigm shift in the governance of this country.
To the professionals who are here don’t shy away and confine yourself to the private sectors. Come out and run for these positions.
Let us have professionals leading the region. It’s unfortunate that the political space has been awash with people of unknown track record who we elect at every election.
In the recent past, we have witnessed elections of people with no development track records. They come from nowhere after they have made some money and they buy their way to the elective posts.
Let us interrogate the quality of leadership to have the best at all levels. We must have transformative leadership.
Professionals must not shy off and should run for these positions. Let us have professionals run for the seat for a member of the county assembly, let us have professionals run parliamentary, governor, senate and presidency starting from the elections coming in 2027,” he said.
Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo tickled the crowd by saying, “Have you listened to what my uncle Owalla has said? That if you are not a professional you should not come to contest for the Rarieda parliamentary seat against Otiende Amollo. That is what he said and that I have now comprehended it.”
Political analyst Dr Otieno Obondi agreed with Owalo’s sentiments saying blanket elections of leaders to various levels of management without interrogating their competence and performance has contributed to poor performance of most of the MCA, MPs, senators and governors from the region
“In most cases, most of the mcas are illiterate and corrupt. They cannot participate effectively in the house debates and are passengers during the discussions. They cannot generate motions and this is why our assemblies are lame-duck.
They want to make money and get rich quickly so they engage in corruption. Most of the elected and nominated MCAs are illiterate and this is where the ran began to beat us,” he said.
Dr Otieno said the community must make a hard decision to elect leaders on their competence, values and performance and development record indicators and should not blindly vote for one based on the party of the moment.
“ In 2027, Nyanza people must ask the hard and tough question. Do we vote based on party euphoria or do we look at various ideals and values in a leader when we go to vote?
We have time to correct the previous mistake and give the community a fresh start. It’s up to the voters to make the hard choice,” he said.
Belgut MP Nelson Koech in one of the video clips that went viral said,” There are people who have become collateral beneficiaries of Raila candidature in every election. There are politicians from Luo Nyanza who wound never want to hear that Raila leaves the political scene.
Because they have benefitted in their entire life being elected because of only being associated with Raila Odinga, They do no development. In our constituencies, we have competition. That is why someone was asking me that most of the leaders from our region are relatively young for instance Kissi, Kericho and Nandi, it is because you must deliver.
If you don’t deliver you are kicked out. But there are parts of this country. That delivery doesn’t matter. You just have to say Baba Tosha and you are into the parliament, senate, governor or whichever office you are running for.
Those people want to hold Raila at ransom. They don’t want him to win the AU seat, They are praying he doesn’t win because if he wins, they are politically dead,”.
