By Anderson Ojwang
Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga is under siege. The once shining and bright political future is moving towards an eclipse.
A thick dark shadow is fast spreading a web on the once ever-rising and bright political career of the former Kisumu Girls Head Girl.
A pregnant, thick and dark cloud looms large on Wanga’s face, threatening to consume or make her. The outcome of the current political storm will have everlasting implications on the governor’s destiny.
The growing call for her arrest and that of her close allies, Homa Bay MP Opondo Kaluma and Homa Bay County Assembly majority leader Richard Ogindo, over the violence which visited the county on Sunday, could be the beginning of the slide.
On the eve of the rally, Kaluma directed and banned the use of the word ‘Wantam’, warned of dire consequences, and said that the residents had made a conscious decision to support President William Ruto’s re-election.
Kaluma had declared war on the Linda Mwananchi group and termed them as enemies. Kaluma did not stop at that; he directed youths to ransack hotels which were believed to be hosting members of the team ahead of the rally.
“We are going to ransack homes and hotels to deal with the people and the hotels. We have given direction, deal with them,” he said.
Ogindo too had declared that the Linda Mwananchi group was not allowed in the county.
The aftermath
From the chaos that rocked the county and Homa Bay town on Sunday, police reported the death of a police officer who was guarding the Linda Mwananchi group, destruction of properties and several injuries. In the police report, one officer was killed while ten other officers were injured, while 24 civilians also sustained serious bodily aggravated injuries, and 17 vehicles were damaged with some burnt.
In a statement, Linda Mwananchi demanded that Wanga, Kaluma and Ogindo account for their role or lack thereof in the attack in Homa Bay.
“We are calling on Governor Wanga, Kaluma and Ogindo and any other Homa Bay county leader whose name may have come up in connection with yesterday’s events, to publicly account for their role – or lack of one – in what happened in the county on their watch,” read the statement.
Last night, the National Cohesion and Integration Commission issued a summons to Kaluma to appear before it on Wednesday 19th August 2026 to assist with investigations. The Commission, basing its summons on Kaluma’s speech before the rally, has set into motion a cocktail of events.
Meanwhile, MP Millie Odhiambo lamented: “I hate the kind of politics I am witnessing in Homabay today. Brother against brother using pangas. Sister against sister using pangas. Attack your opponents with ideas.”
Kisumu Women Representative Ruth Odinga, angered by the happenings, condemned the violence in Homa Bay.
“My heart is bleeding at the events preceding Homa Bay Linda Mwananchi’s scheduled rallies. I condemn, without reservation, the use of our young sons and daughters to propagate violent attacks in Homa Bay, in a bid to stop Linda Mwananchi from conducting their series of rallies. I equally condemn, in the strongest terms, the assault on journalists Fred Ooko and Brian Ongoro of AFP, who were attacked and had their equipment destroyed simply for doing their jobs,” she said.
Odinga said the attack on the political convoy was an attack on the right of every Kenyan to move, assemble, and associate freely – rights our Constitution guarantees and that too many of our people have paid for in blood.
“As a leader born in a political family, and conscious of the history of our country, I cannot help but see a dangerous pattern in Luo Nyanza, where a region whose sons and daughters paid the ultimate price for us to get democracy has turned around and is now being used to stifle the very democracy those before us fought so hard for,” she said.
Odinga wondered who could be behind the division among the Luo community. “Who is keen on dividing us? Who stands to benefit?” she quipped.
She said Nyanza should be the last region in Kenya where a political rally cannot proceed in peace, where a convoy cannot pass safely, where journalists cannot do their work without being attacked.
She said the leaders stood accused of the violence and intolerance emerging in the region.
“We, the leaders, stand accused. We are the ones mobilising and funding the youth to disrupt lawful gatherings. We are rattling pretty fast towards a dark abyss, and when we get there, getting out of it will be a different story. So this madness must just stop; otherwise we will not have a country. We owe our children a Homa Bay and a Nyanza, where political disagreement is a conversation, not a battlefield,” she said.
Business
Homa Bay town was like a war zone: properties and businesses destroyed, livelihoods disrupted, and peace thrown out of the window. The struggling Homa Bay economy was thrown back to its knees and may take years to restore.
Contradictions
On Sunday, Wanga, speaking in Kanyaluo at Wikondiek SDA church during a funds drive, claimed the police had arrested a ‘goon’ associated with the Linda Mwananchi group. The alleged arrest of one Olivet was actual rumour. No arrest so far.
Costly mistake and blunder.
From whatever point you look at it, the buck stops with Governor Wanga as the county supremo. Wanga made a costly mistake and blunder to have allowed her allies to allegedly advocate for violence, thus subsequently placing her right inside the storm.
Her welcome of Linda Mwananchi to the county was washed down the drain by the utterances of her allies. The aftermath has not sat down well with Kenyans and the electorate, who have criticised her on various mediums.
Similarly, the successful rallies in Suba South, despite camping in the area, were a slap in the face. Again, the arrival of the Edwin Sifuna and Babu Owino-led group in Homa Bay town, despite the earlier warning, marked the anticlimax of her politics.
The die is cast, and Wanga’s light could be brightening or fading away like the morning star.
