Many parts of the Nyanza region have long been marginalized by the country’s leadership, where a number of development projects have stalled either deliberately or due to a lack of financial allocations.
During President William Ruto’s leadership, a number of development projects especially in Homa Bay County have been initiated, some completed and launched while others are currently ongoing.
During their political tour in Suba South on Sunday, the Linda Mwananchi brigade led by Siaya Governor James Orengo, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino laughed at the status of some of the roads within Homa Bay.
Some of the notable projects President Ruto has initiated in Homa Bay since he got to the Office include the dual carriage road within Homa Bay Town, improvement of the Homa Bay Pier, construction of the modern fish market, construction of the Mbita-Sindo-Magunga-Sori road which had stalled for a long time
The construction of feeder roads within Homa Bay Town, Rusinga and Mfangano ring roads, numerous water projects just to name a few.
Suba North Parliamentary aspirant Silas Jakakimba has now come in defense of President Ruto’s development record especially in Nyanza region. According to Jakakimba, President Ruto is among Kenyan leaders alongside the late Prime Minister Raila Odinga who have truly recognized that Kenya’s level of Development remains far below its potential, despite the Country’s immense capacity to leapfrog forward.
Jakakimba said that Kenyans must believe in themselves saying that a nation endowed with vast resources especially its human capital-has a capacity to lift millions out of poverty through deliberate planning, sound policies, and a clear vision for shared prosperity. “Even though we all know that at least six roads are under active construction in the lowlands, including Mbita –Sindo-Kiabuya-Sori Sundays images from a remote corner of Suba land are a reminder that the reality of marginalization is not fully appreciated across Kenya,” he noted in a press release.
“Fishing towns such as Nyandiwa, Sindo or even Mbita point should be thriving supported by good roads, reliable electricity, clean water and other quality public amenities,” said the Homa Bay branch Secretary General.
Jakakimba revealed that many Kenyans have endured decades of systematic neglect and decay as a normalcy that is now being disrupted by President Ruto’s deliberate posture on grounding equitable development across all regions of the Country including those that previously suffered decades of neglect and marginalization.
“If Kenya is to rapidly transform and achieve the high standards of living already being enjoyed by other Africans in this same continent, we must embrace and match the boldness at the very top,” said the former Personal Assistant to the late Raila “Kenya is being levelled up under President Ruto and the goal must be to ensure that this transformation reaches every corner of the Country as is happening in Nyanza and other regions across the Nation,” he said.
“Therefore as people in President Ruto’s tenure, while we breathe, we hope these answer Homa Bay County’s and, of course, Nyanza region’s current clarion call for a two-term,” he noted. Jakakimba will be facing off with other candidates for the Suba North Parliamentary ticket on an UDA ticket
The dust on the Mbita–Sindo–Kiabuya–Sori corridor tells a story. But it is not the story of a people who have failed. It is the story of a region that has waited far too long for the infrastructure required to unlock its potential.
What was billed as a tour of Homa Bay by Linda Mwananchi ended up doing something its organizers did not intend: it highlighted the very tribulations our community has been fighting to overcome.
Rough roads in parts of Suba South became a visual metaphor, and a source of ridicule, for Homa Bay’s exclusion from development (including by their main sponsor).
For the people who live along these roads, however, their condition is no joke; it is a daily reality that shapes access to markets and services, the cost of doing business, and the pace at which communities can develop.
Homa Bay has lived with this reality for decades. Since independence, the county, like many others across the country, has been evidence of a structural deficit that stretches from God Odiado in Siaya to Wuoth Ogik in Nyatike, shared by Turkana, Maasailand, Western Kenya, the Coast and other regions that have waited since 1963 for a fair share of the republic.
These regions have experienced acute economic marginalization reflected in an infrastructure deficit far greater than what their population, resources and potential should have allowed.
Those roads have their origins in independent Kenya, and their neglect spans every administration: fifteen years under Jomo Kenyatta, twenty-four under Daniel Arap Moi, ten under Mwai Kibaki, and ten more under Uhuru Kenyatta.
It is a matter of historical record, not grievance for its own sake, that the roads Linda Mwananchi’s cameras found so remarkable are the same roads generations of governments chose not to build.
The Mbita road itself tells that story in miniature: first awarded in 2016 under the Uhuru Kenyatta government to Put Sarajevo, it stalled for lack of allocated funds, with only 7km of its 74km completed.
It was re-awarded in 2020 and again saw little progress. In the last two years, 28km have so far been tarmacked, with works currently ongoing. It is important to note that a 74km trunk road is not something that devolution or CDF can address.
However, devolution matters. Some would ask what devolution has done? It is devolution, championed for decades by leaders including Raila Odinga, that has begun to give counties like Homa Bay a say over their own development and a share of resources once concentrated at the centre.
This has turned the case for correcting marginalization from a matter of goodwill into a constitutional guarantee.
We are not embarrassed by that history. If images of rutted roads earned Homa Bay comparisons to conflict zones, we take that as a badge of honor for our marginalization and resilience, not an insult requiring our silence.
We are convinced that these roads would have been tarmacked decades ago had Tom Mboya and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga remained in government.
Jaramogi was forced out in 1966, Mboya assassinated in 1969, both on a path toward the presidency.
Raila Odinga, many believe, would have delivered that infrastructure as president, but when Kenyans elected him, that mandate was denied to him by force. That history is why the current moment deserves to be judged on its own terms, not dismissed as political theatre.
The question is whether the historical deficit is finally being confronted with the urgency it deserves. There is compelling evidence that something has changed, particularly since 2024. In four years, the Ruto administration has moved Homa Bay projects from aspiration to implementation: the Mbita–Sindo–Kiabuya–Sori corridor and the wider Suba South road network; the dualling project and upgrades across Lala–Ruga, Nyalkinyi–Imbo, the GOR Mahia Ring Road, Rangwe–Oboke, Rangwe–Ndiru, Kadel–Kanyadhiang–Kilusi–Opanga–Ramba, Kadongo–Lida, Adiedo–No. Karabok, Agolo Muok–Seka–Otati, Lwanda–Osodo–Kanyakiamo, Nyabera–Corner Koguta, Njeri–Pala and the Sindo Town road network; and the Homa Bay Pier, the Modern Fish Market, Raila Odinga Stadium, ESP Markets across the county, the Rusinga Road, the Mfangano Ring Road and many others.
We appeal to our people to take this week’s mockery in stride. There is little hardship this region has not already endured since 1963.
Neglect is a subject we do not shy away from; it is why we urge our people to look past sideshows and support an administration that has shown genuine willingness to correct the marginalisation of Nyanza and other underserved regions.
The dust is real. The historical deficit is real. But so is the transformation now underway. Beyond the dust lies the Homa Bay we have always deserved
Homa Bay descended into chaos on Sunday as the Linda Mwananchi movement’s attempt to hold political rallies in the county was met with road blockades, stone-throwing, tear gas and attacks on its supporters, leaders and journalists, exposing deepening political tensions in the region ahead of the 2027 General Election.
The confrontation unfolded against a worrying security backdrop. On Saturday, police arrested 15 people along the Kisumu–Kericho Road after detectives intercepted three vehicles carrying people suspected of being armed with crude weapons.
The suspects were travelling in a grey Toyota Noah and two white Toyota Hiace vans, with the two vans operating under a matatu Sacco serving the Kisumu–Migori route. Police said they recovered machetes, pangas, knives, ropes, a metal rod or club, and several mobile phones. One suspect, believed to be the group’s leader, escaped during the operation and was being pursued by detectives.
National Police Service spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said preliminary investigations indicated that the suspects had allegedly been hired to disrupt political activities.
“Preliminary investigations indicate that they are hired criminals who allegedly planned to disrupt political activities in the area,” Nyaga said.
Police, however, did not confirm that the suspects were specifically travelling to Homa Bay. Their arrest nevertheless came only a day before the Linda Mwananchi tour of the county, at a time when tensions surrounding the planned rallies had already escalated.
The situation became even more concerning inside Homa Bay, where police had earlier arrested three men suspected of planning to cause chaos during the gathering. The suspects were intercepted near Nyangweso Trading Centre along the Homa Bay–Kendu Bay road, with officers recovering two machetes, a knife and a jacket bearing National Youth Service markings.
Homa Bay County Commissioner Ronald Mwiwawi had warned young people against allowing themselves to be drawn into political violence.
“We don’t want to hear of a situation where anybody uses a panga to attack a fellow Kenyan. Those who are found doing so will be arrested,” Mwiwawi said.
His warning would prove significant as Sunday’s events unfolded.
Roads turned into battlegrounds
By Sunday morning, major roads leading into Homa Bay Town had been barricaded with large stones, with some sections rendered impassable. Tyres were also set ablaze at Oyugis Junction as tension mounted ahead of the movement’s rallies.
Videos from the morning showed vehicles struggling to get through sections of the roads as stones blocked access. The blockades were reported as the Linda Mwananchi convoy made its way towards Nyandiwa, Sindo and eventually Homa Bay Town. Police have not established that the road blockades were connected to the 15 suspects arrested along the Kisumu–Kericho Road.
The convoy, led by Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and accompanied by Siaya Governor James Orengo, Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya and other opposition leaders, encountered resistance at several points.
In Ndhiwa, youths confronted the convoy and threw stones at vehicles, forcing police officers accompanying the leaders to fire tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd.
Orengo, whose convoy was attacked at Ndhiwa, accused the police of abandoning their responsibility to protect political leaders and members of the public.
“At a centre like Rodi Kopany, the police should have been there, but you can see the police have totally given up and surrendered their authority to the goons,” Orengo said.
He described what was happening as unacceptable and accused unnamed individuals of organising groups to interfere with the Linda Mwananchi convoy.
“The actions and conduct we are witnessing here in Homa Bay are unacceptable. The people are with us. Everywhere we have passed since we entered Homa Bay, it has been Wantam. But these goons who have been organised to attack our vehicles are interfering with our convoy. This is not Kenya. This is not the Kenya we want. But we are determined. We will have all the meetings, all the three meetings,” he said.
At another point, Orengo accused the police of allowing anarchy to take hold.
“This is very bad because you know anarchy is what is prevailing. At a centre like Ndhiwa, the police should have been there, but you can see the police have totally given up and surrendered their authority to the goons. But we shall overcome,” he said.
Orengo has since indicated that the confrontation with the security agencies will not end on the streets. He said he intends to take the police leadership to court over what he described as security failures and the failure to protect citizens exercising their constitutional rights.
The threat of legal action now puts additional pressure on the National Police Service to explain its handling of the day’s events, particularly whether adequate security was deployed along the routes used by the convoy and whether officers acted promptly enough to prevent the attacks.
Journalists caught in the violence
The violence spread beyond political leaders and supporters, with journalists covering the events also becoming victims.
AFP correspondent Fred Ooko was assaulted and robbed of his camera and driving licence while covering the disturbances in Homa Bay Town. Another AFP journalist, Brian Ongoro, was also reportedly injured, with journalists losing equipment and personal documents during the attacks.
A hotel in Homa Bay was also reportedly raided by armed youths allegedly searching for supporters of the Linda Mwananchi movement. The incidents added to growing concerns about the ability of authorities to protect people and property as political temperatures rise.
The attacks prompted Amnesty International Kenya to call for prompt, independent and transparent investigations into the violence, including attacks on journalists, destruction of property, intimidation, road blockades and the conduct of security agencies.
The organisation also called for protection of freedom of expression, assembly, movement and media rights, urging police to act professionally and impartially.
The National Police Service, for its part, had directed officers deployed to political gatherings in Homa Bay to remain professional, impartial and restrained while facilitating the constitutional right to peaceful assembly.
“All officers deployed to political events or public gatherings are directed to uphold the highest standards of professionalism, impartiality, and restraint,” police spokesperson Muchiri Nyaga said.
Nyaga also warned politicians, organisers and members of the public against conduct likely to trigger violence.
“The National Police Service warns politicians, organisers, and all other individuals against incitement, provocation, or any conduct likely to breach the peace. Offenders will face the full force of the law,” he said.
Faith Odhiambo: Stop turning youths into weapons of politics
Former Law Society of Kenya President Faith Odhiambo offered one of the strongest condemnations of the violence, warning that Kenyan politics must not continue using young people as instruments of confrontation.
Speaking during the Linda Mwananchi tour, Odhiambo questioned why young people were being encouraged to arm themselves with pangas and rungus instead of being offered opportunities and support.
“We cannot allow our blood to be the one that is poured. Today you are being told to take rungus and pangas and kill one another. That must come to an end,” she said.
Odhiambo contrasted the use of violence during political mobilisation with the material incentives used in other campaigns, questioning why some voters are given assistance while others are allegedly encouraged to fight.
“Our people, I want to tell you that other people are gifted blankets and money even boats to get their votes, and what of us: We are told to sharpen our knives and panga and take rungus and fight. Ol Kalou walipewa gas, mattress mpaka pesa. Mbona hao wanapewa panga na rungu?” she asked.
Her remarks placed the Homa Bay violence within a broader debate about political goonism and the exploitation of unemployed and vulnerable young people during political contests.
Odhiambo has previously argued that political goonism is not a new phenomenon in Kenya, saying young people have repeatedly been recruited into violence by political actors.
“If we go even to the 90s, this element of goonism has always been there. Using the youth wing, revolution wing… it’s just rebranded into different forms or different names. But it’s just using young people as a commodity to perpetrate impunity as the currency. And the political actors are the buyers,” she said in an earlier interview.
The events in Homa Bay therefore ended up becoming much bigger than a single political rally.
What began with warnings over possible disruption and the arrest of suspects carrying crude weapons escalated into road blockades, confrontations, the use of tear gas, attacks on political leaders, assaults on journalists and a bitter confrontation between Orengo and the security establishment.
Yet despite the disruption, the Linda Mwananchi convoy eventually entered Homa Bay Town and proceeded with its planned mobilisation activities in Nyandiwa, Sindo and Homa Bay Town, drawing significant crowds along the way.
The day’s events have now placed Homa Bay at the centre of a fresh national debate over political intolerance, the role of security agencies and the growing use of youths in political confrontation.
With the 2027 General Election approaching, Sunday’s violence has also raised a more troubling question: whether Kenya’s next political contest will be fought primarily through ideas and votes, or whether old tactics of intimidation, mobilisation of goons and street confrontation are beginning to return.
Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga swallowed the bait by the Linda Mwananchi brigades and was left exposed; her panic and fear of the unknown spoke volumes, and it is a nightmare.
On Sunday morning, Wanga was in Kisumu during the platinum jubilee of the Voice of Salvation and Healing Church while Homa Bay burnt with none to bring water.
And she wrote: “The ministry, which has spread the Gospel of redemption and hope to thousands across Kenya and beyond, drew national and county leaders including CS Hon. Opiyo Wandayi, MP Hon. Rozaah Buyu, Deputy Governor Dr. Matthews Owili, Speaker Hon. Elisha Oraro, and City Manager Abala Wanga.”
But in Homa Bay, on the eve of the rally, Wanga’s right-hand man and area MP Opondo 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 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.
Consequently, Homa Bay Tourist Hotel became one of the victims of the rowdy youths who destroyed the facility. A Jua Kali, several vehicles were damaged, and scores of people were injured.
While Wanga was in church, goons took charge of the county, blocked the roads, lit bonfires, and caused chaos.
Some of the goons carried pangas, machetes, and jembe handles in readiness for a bullfight, and indeed it was a bloodbath.
From Kisumu, Wanga went to Karachuonyo for a fund drive for Wikondiek SDA Church as Homa Bay continued to bleed in blood.
But in Suba South, in Nyandiwa, where Wanga had camped ahead of the rally, the home of the legendary Nyamgondho son of Obare welcomed the Linda Mwananchi brigades.
The organic crowd told the story of the sweeping Linda Mwananchi wave across the country.
Exposed
Yemen
All that glitters is not gold, so the transformative development and the top ranking by pollsters on Wanga as a top performer were deconstructed and laid bare.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna wondered aloud if Suba was another Yemen because of the bad, impassable roads in the area.
“Bwana walisema huku Homabay ndio kuna shiny things, kumbe ni ukora tu… dust is constant (They said Homa Bay has transformative development, but no roads; just dust),” he wrote.
Residents have accused Wanga of riding on national government projects while she has no project of her own to show to the public for the four years in office.
Speaking in Karachuonyo, Wanga said the bad roads in the county were a result of decades of political marginalisation.
“They are now saying Suba is Yemen. They do not know the pain we have gone through after years of marginalisation by successive governments,” she said.
Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo admitted that most of the roads in the county were in bad shape and needed urgent works.
“Most of our roads are bad in Suba South and North. Let us stop cheating people by saying those are feeder roads and that the main roads were barricaded. What you see, other than Homa Bay to Mbita and Rusinga Ring Road, are the main roads. President Kibaki and PM Raila tarmacked Homa Bay town to Mbita town. President Uhuru built the Mbita Bridge. President Ruto has tarmacked the Rusinga Ring Road. He has opened the Mfangano Ring Road and tarmacking is commencing. He has earmarked a few others to be done, including the Sindo-Mbito Road. CS Mbadi recently launched two in my constituency, one of which is the one being used now. We have been marginalised for years. Sugar-coating it by calling the bad roads feeder roads will stop the government from prioritising these roads. CS Mbadi – tigi wiyi. The world has made enough mockery of us today, calling us Afghanistan and all. It is time this ended. Subas are Kenyans too. We need accelerated development here,” she wrote.
But the residents are asking: where has the development for roads in the county government gone to?
Slipping political ground
With the demise of Wanga’s political mentors – the late Homa Bay Senator Gerald Otieno Kajwang’ and the former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga – Wanga is now left exposed to political scavengers.
Wanga’s political battles are not only concentrated in Homa Bay County, where she is racing against a political nightmare of her former deputy Oyugi Magwanga, but also in ODM, the broad-based government, and Nyanza, where she has been plotting to plant her candidates.
The Homa Bay Linda Mwananchi rally gave the opponents a chance to test her political prowess and blueprint, and she ran amok, exposing her soft belly.
In Nyandiwa, where she camped hoping to persuade the residents to avoid the rally, they answered her with organic huge attendance.
All her pleas and promises went down the drain as Sindo and Nyandiwa spoke, and the spirits of the lake conspired to welcome the group.
In Kendu Bay, the residents braved and welcomed the group – a statement to the governor that all was not well in her camp.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino wrote: “Baba Raila Amollo Odinga was a true pro-democracy leader who stood firmly for the right to free speech and the freedoms of every Kenyan. Even in the face of fierce political opposition, Baba believed in forgiveness, reconciliation and unity. Thank you to the people of Nyandiwa, Suba South Constituency, Homa Bay County, for reaffirming Baba’s enduring ideals of democracy, free speech and tolerance. We must continue to uphold and protect the values he fought for.”
In the absence of Raila, will Wanga successfully face the storm?
Goons’ paradise
The rally exposed Homa Bay as a goons’ paradise and the dark faces behind them in the county.
From the day the group notified the police of the rally to the actual day, the goons have been on duty.
Kaluma warned business owners of dire consequences for hosting members of Linda Mwananchi in their facilities.
“If you are a hotel owner in Homa Bay Constituency, you must know the people who have slept in your hotel. We will deal with that person and even the hotel,” he said.
Kaluma said the county leadership and the entire leadership had given directions.
“My people, I came to talk to the youths to protect us now that we have been invaded by the enemy. I have finished arrangements with your leadership. Fuel is provided. From here we move to Imbo, Rodi, and Homa Bay. Our party is ODM. It is President Ruto’s second term,” he said.
But Siaya Governor James Orengo wrote: “Homa Bay Town came through LOUD! You stood tall, defeated the goons, and proved that light always shames the dark. Huge shoutout JoAsego Kanyada for leading the charge.”
When our national anthem lifts its voice – “O God of all creation, bless this our land and nation…” – it asks us to dwell in unity, peace and liberty. We sing it in stadiums, in county halls, and at rallies. We raise the Kenyan flag high and steady. Yet, as the political temperature climbs, the words we sing are too often betrayed by the words we speak and the actions we take.
Across towns, estates, and villages, an ugly sickness spreads: hate disguised as politics. Friends and neighbours who once shared tea and stories now measure each other by party colours. Communities that have built their lives together for decades find themselves pulled apart by rhetoric that thrives on fear and division. This is not the Kenya our forebears imagined; it is not the Kenya our children deserve.
The stakes are more than political victory. When hate becomes acceptable, the social fabric that holds us together frays. Schools become battlegrounds of suspicion, markets see fewer familiar faces, and cooperative societies – the backbone of many livelihoods – waver under tension. Lives are hurt, livelihoods disrupted, and trust, once lost, is hard to rebuild. We must ask: where is Kenya headed if we let division win?
Leaders – elected and moral – carry special responsibility. It is striking and sorrowful when the same lips that join the anthem later give voice to words that wound. Institutions meant to protect unity sometimes look on powerless; in other instances, they are implicated. Religious spaces that ought to be sanctuaries of compassion can become platforms for anger. And the uniform meant to reassure the public is occasionally associated with intimidation. These contradictions deepen the sense that our national promises are fragile.
But Kenya is more than the moments of discord. We are a tapestry of communities – different histories, languages, livelihoods – woven together by mutual dependence and common hope. Our towns thrive because traders trust customers; our farms succeed because neighbours share labour and seed; our politics should exist to better these lives, not imperil them. Unity is not a surrender of identity; it is the recognition that we are stronger together.
So what do we need now?
Humility from leaders. True leadership listens, calms, and refuses to inflame. A leader who loves Kenya will choose the long arc of national interest over short-term gains.
Courage from citizens. Saying no to hate takes bravery. It means refusing to forward a poisonous message, intervening when friends dehumanise others, and voting with conscience, not grievance.
Vigilance from institutions. Bodies tasked with cohesion and security must be independent, active, and accountable. Their work must restore trust through action, not rhetoric.
Stewardship from religious and community leaders. Places of worship and community platforms should heal, not harden. Spiritual authority must call people toward peace.
Reinvestment in shared spaces. Markets, schools, sports, and cultural events are where bonds are rebuilt. Supporting these spaces restores everyday trust.
We must also think beyond the next election cycle. “We need Kenya beyond 2027” is not a slogan; it is a covenant with future generations. This means agreeing on rules that are respected, ensuring justice is seen to be done, and making sure economic opportunities spread widely so that politics becomes a tool for progress, not survival.
There are practical steps we can take now. Encourage dialogue forums at the grassroots; support local peace committees; demand transparency from institutions; use social media to amplify unity stories; and celebrate the everyday acts of kindness that remind us what we can be. Each small act of reconciliation, each conversation across difference, is a stitch that mends the national fabric.
Finally, remember the anthem not as an obligation but as a promise. When we sing “In common bond united, build this our nation together,” we are making a living pledge. If leaders falter, let citizens rise. If institutions hesitate, let communities act. If rhetoric darkens, let love be louder.
I call for peace. I call for love. I call for unity – not as empty words, but as daily practice. Kenya’s future is not predetermined. It is made by our choices today: by the courage to speak truth kindly, by the strength to resist hatred, and by the faith to build a country where every child can grow in safety and dignity.
Where is Kenya headed? That answer rests with us. Let us choose a path where the anthem’s hopes are more than words – let them be the guideposts of our shared tomorrow.
Speaking on the state of infrastructure in Suba South and Suba North, the legislator said most roads in the two constituencies remain in poor condition and warned against a narrative that labels them merely as “feeder roads” to justify neglect. “Let us stop cheating people by saying those are feeder roads and that the main roads were barricaded,” she said.
Hon. Odhiambo recalled earlier national projects in the area, noting that under former President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the Homa Bay–Mbita road was tarmacked, while President Uhuru Kenyatta constructed the Mbita Bridge. She said the current administration has also invested in local roads: President William Ruto completed the Rusinga Ring Road and officially opened the Mfangano Ring Road, where tarmacking has now commenced. “He has earmarked a few others to be done, including the Sindo–Mbito Road,” she added.
The MP also highlighted recent county-level activity, saying Cabinet Secretary Mramba Mbadi launched two road projects in her constituency, one of which is the route currently in use. Despite these developments, Hon. Odhiambo insisted that Suba communities remain marginalised. “We have been marginalised for years. Sugar-coating it by calling the bad roads feeder roads will stop the government from prioritising these roads,” she said.
Expressing frustration at how the region has been portrayed, the legislator said international commentary that likened their condition to conflict zones was insulting and must stop. “The world has made enough mockery of us today, calling us Afghanistan and all. It is time this ended,” she said, adding a reminder: “Subas are Kenyans too.”
Hon. Odhiambo urged accelerated development across Suba South and Suba North to end long-standing disparities and ensure residents benefit from national infrastructure programmes.
As the Linda Mwananchi convoy entered Homa Bay for a major political mobilisation, it was not the shiny development projects often highlighted by leaders that became the defining image of the day.
It was dust.
With several major roads blocked by stones, logs, burning tyres, and other barricades, the convoy was forced to abandon some of its planned routes and navigate alternative roads across the county. The detours exposed rough and dusty roads, producing images that quickly spread across social media and reignited a much bigger question about Homa Bay’s development record.
For Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, the dusty journey offered an opportunity to mock what he described as the county’s “shiny” development narrative.
After travelling through the alternative routes, Sifuna posted a photograph of himself covered in dust and wrote on X:
“They said Homa Bay is where the shiny things are, but it turns out it is all conmanship. The dust is constant.”
He later took the criticism further, saying the convoy had been told that being part of the broad-based government meant Homa Bay had undergone widespread transformation.
“They told us that here in Homa Bay, because you are in the broad-based government, all the roads have been tarmacked. We have eaten dust today; we have eaten plenty of dust,” Sifuna said.
His remarks turned what had initially been a logistical problem caused by road blockades into a political attack on the development credentials of the ODM and Kenya Kwanza partnership.
The contradiction in Wanga’s own praise
The criticism is particularly uncomfortable for Governor Gladys Wanga because she has herself been one of the strongest voices praising the development partnership between Homa Bay County and President William Ruto’s administration.
In August 2025, Wanga openly credited the Kenya Kwanza government with transforming the county, telling Ruto during the Devolution Conference in Homa Bay that three quarters of the development visible in the county had not existed when he first visited in January 2023.
“I want to thank you for your partnership in transforming Homa Bay to make it worthy of hosting this conference. When you last visited Homa Bay in January 2023, three quarters of the development seen here was not there,” Wanga said.
She went on to emphasise that she had been an opposition governor at the time and that there was no broad-based government or partnership between the county and the national government.
“But you had no intention of leaving us behind simply because of how we voted in the election in which you were voted as the President,” she told Ruto.
Wanga has also previously said that Homa Bay had never seen a president do what Ruto had done for the county, presenting his administration’s frequent visits and development projects as evidence that the region was finally receiving national government attention.
Among the projects she has highlighted are the dual carriageway in Homa Bay Town, the Lake Victoria pier, and other infrastructure investments.
It is against that backdrop that Sunday’s dusty roads have become politically significant.
If three quarters of the development seen in Homa Bay was absent before Ruto’s administration, as Wanga herself said, the condition of roads encountered by the Linda Mwananchi convoy provides an uncomfortable visual counterpoint to that success story.
But Wanga has rejected the suggestion that the images prove Homa Bay has been abandoned.
Wanga: “They do not understand our pain”
Responding to the criticism at Wikondiek SDA Church in Karachuonyo, Wanga accused those mocking Homa Bay’s roads of failing to understand the county’s historical experience of marginalisation.
“They are laughing at us saying Homa Bay looks like Yemen because of bad roads. They don’t understand our pain because all these years we have been voting but no development has come to this region because we decided to fight for the country, to bring a new Constitution, devolution, and human rights,” Wanga said.
She argued that the county’s infrastructure challenges should be understood in the context of years of political and economic marginalisation rather than being used to dismiss the development taking place under the current administration.
More importantly, Wanga pointed to the very political arrangement Sifuna was attacking as the vehicle through which the roads would eventually be improved.
“But because we’re in the broad-based government, that road they are talking about is under the Lake Victoria Ring Road and will be tarmac,” she said.
The governor has also cited her administration’s own road programme, reporting that Homa Bay had opened 736 kilometres of new roads, maintained 538 kilometres, and rehabilitated 116 kilometres of access roads.
The national government, meanwhile, has major road projects either completed, ongoing, or planned in the county, including the Rusinga Island Ring Road and sections of the wider Lake Victoria Ring Road.
Millie: “Let us stop cheating people”
But Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo has rejected attempts to explain away the roads used by the convoy as insignificant feeder roads.
Her intervention was particularly pointed because she represents an area where residents continue to depend heavily on roads that remain in poor condition.
“Most of our roads are bad in Suba South and North. Let us stop cheating people by saying those are feeder roads and that the main roads were barricaded,” Odhiambo said.
She argued that many of the roads seen during the convoy’s detours are actually important routes.
“What you see, other than Homa Bay to Mbita and Rusinga Ring Road, are the main roads,” she said.
Odhiambo acknowledged infrastructure delivered by previous administrations, noting that former President Mwai Kibaki and retired Prime Minister Raila Odinga oversaw the tarmacking of the Homa Bay Town to Mbita road, while former President Uhuru Kenyatta built the Mbita Bridge.
She also acknowledged projects delivered under Ruto.
“President Ruto has tarmacked the Rusinga Ring Road. He has opened the Mfangano Ring Road and tarmacking is commencing,” she said.
But she warned that describing poor roads as feeder roads could allow the government to ignore communities that still need better infrastructure.
“We have been marginalised for years. Sugar-coating it by calling the bad roads feeder roads will stop the government from prioritising these roads,” Odhiambo said.
She also lamented the international ridicule generated by the images, saying the situation had reached a point where Homa Bay residents needed accelerated development rather than excuses.
“The world has made enough mockery of us today, calling us Afghanistan and all. It is time this ended,” she said.
When politics exposes the roads
The circumstances surrounding Sunday’s road drama matter.
The poor roads were not initially the reason the convoy ended up using them. Several routes had been blocked as political tensions escalated, with stones, logs, bonfires, and burning tyres reported at different points. Police were deployed, and the convoy had to find alternative ways to reach its destinations.
But once the convoy entered those alternative routes, Homa Bay’s infrastructure became impossible to ignore.
The dust that settled on Sifuna’s clothes became a political symbol.
To Sifuna and the Linda Mwananchi camp, it demonstrated the gap between what residents have been told about the benefits of the broad-based government and what some communities continue to experience.
To Wanga, it is evidence of a historical infrastructure deficit that is now being addressed through the same broad-based partnership she has repeatedly praised.
And to Millie, it is a reminder that residents should not be asked to celebrate development on paper while travelling on roads that remain impassable or dusty.
There is, in fact, evidence of significant road investment in Homa Bay. National government investments between 2023 and 2026 have been estimated at about KSh27.9 billion, covering roughly 515 kilometres, with several major projects either under construction or completed.
The dispute, therefore, is not whether Homa Bay has received development.
It is how much of that development has reached the roads used by ordinary residents, how quickly unfinished projects will be completed, and whether the political promises match the reality on the ground.
On Sunday, the Linda Mwananchi convoy did not set out to conduct an audit of Homa Bay’s roads.
But after the barricades forced it onto alternative routes, the roads conducted one themselves.
And for a county whose governor has said three quarters of its visible development emerged during the Ruto era, the dust left behind a question that political speeches alone cannot answer.
Has Homa Bay truly been transformed, or are some of its roads still waiting for the transformation to arrive?
The question of debt keeps many Kenyans awake at night. For an individual, a family, a business, or a country, debt can become a form of economic bondage when it grows beyond the capacity to repay it. Kenya’s runaway debt problem must therefore become one of the central issues in the National Conversation. We cannot continue discussing national visions without confronting the financial means required to implement them.
So, how do we get out of this cycle of debt? We cannot give up. The problem is difficult, but it is not impossible to solve. What is worrying is that, instead of reducing the debt burden, successive governments have often relied on temporary solutions that simply push existing obligations into the future. Refinancing may provide temporary relief, but refinancing debt without reducing the underlying debt stock only postpones the problem.
Another mistake is to peg the country’s borrowing capacity primarily to economic growth at a time when economic growth has remained below five percent for several years. When the economy grows slowly, government revenues also grow more slowly, while interest payments and other obligations continue to rise. Borrowing against an economy that is not expanding fast enough creates a dangerous imbalance between what the country owes and what it can realistically generate.
Kenya therefore needs a much broader debt recovery strategy involving government, Parliament, the private sector, financial institutions, and ordinary citizens. Although the country has borrowed heavily, too much of the borrowed money has been concentrated in a relatively narrow part of the economy. Debt-financed expenditure should generate economic activity across the country, create productive assets, expand employment, and ultimately increase the tax base. When borrowed money circulates within a small group of beneficiaries, its ability to generate broad-based economic growth is greatly reduced.
Debt refinancing has also created an industry around the management of government debt. Refinancing is sometimes necessary, but it should never become the permanent business model of government. Every refinancing decision should answer one fundamental question: does it reduce the cost and risk of the debt, or does it merely postpone repayment while increasing the ultimate burden on taxpayers?
We must also examine the provisions of the Public Finance Management framework that permit government financial commitments to be made without the full implications immediately appearing in consolidated public accounts. Public finances should be transparent enough for Parliament and citizens to know, in real time, what the country owes, what it has committed itself to pay, and when those obligations will fall due. Any legal provision that creates room for obligations to remain outside the clear view of the consolidated accounts should be reviewed and, where necessary, amended.
Kenya should also reconsider how major public borrowing is authorised. Borrowing on behalf of the Republic is not a personal decision of the President or an administrative decision of the Executive. It is a decision that commits future generations. Major debt should therefore be subjected to rigorous parliamentary scrutiny and approval through plenary debate. Every constituency has a representative in Parliament, and every representative should have the opportunity to scrutinise and vote on decisions that increase the national debt burden.
We must also be honest about austerity. A debt crisis cannot be solved while government continues to spend as though resources are unlimited. Austerity does not necessarily mean abandoning development or punishing ordinary citizens. It means eliminating waste, reducing unnecessary expenditure, controlling the cost of government, and directing scarce resources towards programmes that generate the greatest economic and social return.
Government expenditure must also become standardised and predictable. Ministries, departments, and agencies should operate within clear expenditure ceilings, procurement standards, and performance targets. The country should know what it costs to run government and why those costs are necessary. Predictability would make it easier to identify waste, control expenditure, and plan debt repayment.
The first step towards solving a debt crisis is admitting that the crisis exists. We cannot solve what we refuse to acknowledge.
The Kenya Shilling must also play an important role in the debt recovery strategy. In the short and medium term, Kenya should pursue policies that strengthen the Shilling without artificially manipulating the currency. A stronger and more stable currency reduces the local currency cost of servicing foreign-denominated debt. If the Shilling strengthens because of stronger exports, increased production, lower import dependence, improved investor confidence, and sound fiscal management, the country gains an additional opportunity to reduce the cost of external debt.
The solution, however, cannot depend on the exchange rate alone. Kenya must also reduce the actual debt stock and the interest burden attached to it. Every shilling saved in interest payments is a shilling that can be redirected towards healthcare, education, infrastructure, security, and productive investment.
Then there is the question of domestic debt.
The Government must gradually reduce its dependence on the domestic financial market. When the Government borrows heavily from commercial banks and other local institutions, it competes with businesses for available credit. This can make borrowing more expensive for entrepreneurs and discourage private investment.
Returning liquidity to the banking system would create room for banks to lend more aggressively to businesses rather than primarily financing government obligations. That could stimulate enterprise, expand production, create employment, and increase household incomes. As businesses grow, the tax base also grows. More productive businesses mean more VAT, more income tax, more employment, and ultimately more government revenue.
This is the difference between borrowing to survive and creating an economy that can generate enough wealth to repay its obligations.
Kenya should therefore move from a debt-driven economy to a production-driven economy. We should borrow less, produce more, export more, consume more locally produced goods, and create conditions in which private capital can expand productive activity.
There is also an urgent need to examine the assets of the State. Kenya owns substantial public assets, some of which are underutilised or poorly managed. The country could explore carefully structured asset rationalisation, restructuring, and, where economically justified, strategic disposal of selected non-strategic assets to reduce debt. However, such transactions must be conducted transparently and competitively. We must never sell national assets simply to finance recurrent expenditure or transfer public wealth to politically connected individuals.
The objective should be to use assets intelligently to reduce liabilities while protecting strategic national interests.
Most importantly, the next President must understand that the interests of the State cannot be subordinated to personal, political, or private interests. When government decisions are influenced by private gain, state capture becomes inevitable. State capture distorts procurement, taxation, appointments, borrowing, and the allocation of public resources. It ultimately transfers the cost of private enrichment to ordinary taxpayers.
Kenya does not lack resources. What we lack is sufficient discipline in how those resources are managed.
The country can reverse its debt losses, but it will require political courage. We must stop treating borrowing as revenue, stop treating refinancing as a solution to every problem, and stop postponing difficult decisions simply because they are politically inconvenient.
The national conversation must therefore move beyond who should occupy State House and ask a more fundamental question: what kind of economy should the next administration inherit, and what kind of economy should it hand over to the next generation?
Our objective should be clear: reduce the debt stock; reduce the cost of borrowing; control government expenditure; strengthen the Kenya Shilling through production and exports; return domestic liquidity to the private sector; protect public assets; expand the tax base through economic growth rather than endless increases in tax rates; and build institutions strong enough to prevent any individual government from borrowing recklessly on behalf of generations that have not yet been born.
Kenya can get out of the debt trap.
But we must first stop pretending that tomorrow will automatically pay for the debts we create today.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki took the war with DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua to the doorstep with a threat to spill the beans over his impeachment.
Kindiki said he tried severally to help Gachagua avoid being impeached, but he refused to listen to him.
“Don’t push me, or else I will spill the beans. How I tried to save you not to be impeached, but you didn’t listen to me. I came to you severally, when I was the Interior Cabinet Secretary, and I told you to cooperate with the President. Be honest to him, but you refused to listen,” he said.
Support
Recently, Kindiki said for the two years Gachagua was in office, he supported him.
“For two years Gachagua was in office as Deputy President, I was Cabinet Secretary for Internal Security, and not any single day in those two years did I undermine him,” he said.
But Gachagua dismissed Kindiki, saying he sabotaged his fight against alcoholism in Mt Kenya.
“I have seen Kindiki saying he has no problem with me and that when I was in office, he respected me. That we only differed after he left. How did you respect me? The day I finished alcoholism in the region, you acted on the contrary,” he said.
Kindiki said he supported Gachagua while he was Deputy President and he was never engaged in politics.
“I supported him 100 percent. I was very busy with my ministry and never engaged in politics. The Cabinet Secretary for Internal Security is a focused docket. For the two years, I was living in the forest. For two years, I was your junior while you were in government. Not a single day did I abuse you,” he said.
Gachagua asked: “How did you respect me while you undermined my duty to finish alcoholism in Mt Kenya? Even if you have a problem with Ruto, stay there,” he said.
Blood relations
He said the blood relationship and advice from the elders was the reason behind his reference to Gachagua as brother.
“Not that I liked you too much, but you have a sense of arrogance and self-entitlement. I have tried to like you, but I don’t know what kind of a human being you are.”
“You said I should not call you my brother. I want to tell you this, Mr Rigathi: it is not upon you to tell me how I will call you. It is not your business. It is my business. You will not determine how I will call you. I don’t call you my brother because I like you or because I fear you. I do so because the elders from Gikuyu, Mbeere, Embu, and Meru told me that our community is one and that you are my brother by blood and not by choice. If you hear me call you my brother, it is not because I fear or like you. I have tried to like you, but you look down upon people,” he said.
Recently, Kindiki told Gachagua that the unity of the region was paramount and they needed to treat one another with respect, devoid of abuses.
“My dear brother Rigathi Gachagua, I am not asking you to join the government because you left. I pray for you in the role you are currently playing. But do it with respect. Let us not cause division in Mt Kenya. I will not abuse you because you are my brother, and you too don’t abuse me,” he said.
But Gachagua dismissed the overture, saying it was culturally wrong to “kill your brother and take his wife.”
“Do not call me your brother because even if you are someone’s brother, can you kill him and take his wife? You say one is your brother but you killed him and took his wife,” he said.
Disloyal
Kindiki said Gachagua was disloyal and disrespectful to his boss, President William Ruto, and that was why he was impeached.
“You looked down on your boss, everyone including your brother. How can only one man be the right man in the world? That nature of yours is what made you be impeached. I told you. I don’t want to be like you. Be loyal and respectful to your boss so that tomorrow when you become the president, you will be treated likewise. But you looked down on me and told me I don’t know what I was saying,” he said.
Cold
Kindiki said Gachagua was in political cold and that was the reason for his bitterness.
“Currently, you are making noise outside the government. I want to ask you, my brother Rigathi: for me, several people do not understand me. I say they only saw me in the night and not during the day. That disrespect you have, Rigathi, I promise you will be embarrassed,” he said.
The law professor is taking his fight with Gachagua into the political bar, and it is going to get murkier and more interesting as Kindiki fights for his DP slot and control of the mountain.
Welcome home
Earlier, Gachagua had claimed that Kindiki was being subjected to the same mistreatment he went through before he was impeached.
He told Kindiki that he was welcome back home in the political formation that Mt Kenya has shifted to.
But Kindiki declined the overtures, saying he had built the party and cannot walk away and will be President Ruto’s running mate.
Today is the verdict day for Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) National Chairperson and Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga.
It is a make-or-tear situation for the daughter of Wangaya, as it is the first time her political acuity and career come to a real test. A test of where rubber meets the road and a bare-knuckle engagement.
A double-edged sword for the former Kisumu Girls head girl when she comes face to face with seasoned street politicians baying for her political soul and out to dim her shining light.
That is why Wanga went out in full force to appeal to the residents not to turn up in large numbers for the rally, as it would annoy President William Ruto of the broad-based coalition.
“Do not look for money from those people. If you are hungry, call me and I will send you money to eat. Do not attend the rally in huge numbers as it will annoy President Ruto,” she pleaded.
Date
Wanga finally has a date with the former Mageuzi leader and Siaya Governor James Orengo. For long, the two leaders have been shadow boxing. Today, it is the day of a show of might and superiority. Who will carry the day?
Orengo, a hardened shrew and master of street politics, finally has a date with the scheming and ambitious daughter of former Kisumu councilor the late Nyasuna.
Similarly, from Orengo, Wanga faces off with the Nyalenda slum-born Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.
Owino, an alumnus of Kisumu Boys and former Nairobi University student leader, will finally test the former and first Kenyatta University woman student Secretary General of the organisation.
Babu in 2024 gave Wanga a taste of his salt during her thanksgiving ceremony in her Kochia Village for her appointment as ODM Chairperson.
The crowd demanded that Babu speak, and he went with the crowd, which forced ODM Director of Elections Junet Mohammed to castigate him for allegedly trying to grab the mantle from Raila Odinga while he was still alive.
The politically cheeky, calculative, and financially muscled Caroli Omondi is a nightmare for Wanga.
Linda Mwananchi will attend the mass service in Suba South, Caroli’s backyard, where he had camped most of the week.
That is where Cabinet Secretary for Treasury John Mbadi comes from and is the immediate former area MP. Mbadi and Caroli have no lost love between them.
Wanga for the last one week camped in Suba South, rallying the residents against attending the Linda Mwananchi rally.
“I thought as MPs from Homa Bay we would work together, but Caroli has refused and is undermining Mbadi. Do not attend the rally. Go to your businesses,” she said.
For the last two weeks, Homa Bay County witnessed a money windfall from the Governor and her team as they traversed the region to de-campaign the rally.
The immediate former Secretary General Edwin Sifuna is finally invading Wanga’s backyard to touch base and seek support from the late Raila’s political bedroom.
Sifuna’s encroachment into what was seen as emerging President Ruto’s bedroom in Nyanza could be a nightmare for Wanga, a key ally to the President and one of the architects of Sifuna’s sacking.
It is a date of the hunter and the hunted, with the latter on a revenge mission to rewrite the story of when the hunter becomes the hunted.
Make
Wanga must do all within her power to ensure the rally fails. In her pursuit of queenpin and community leadership, this is the first litmus test on her political career in the absence of former Prime Minister the late Raila Odinga.
This explains why Homa Bay MP Opondo Kaluma declared that Linda Mwananchi were not allowed in the town and that they were to conduct night searches for supporters of the group who had checked into hotels and homes.
“From now going forward, we are giving command that any person saying ‘one term’ should be dealt with. We are going to ransack hotels and homes where they are hiding,” Kaluma said.
Kaluma warned business owners of dire consequences for hosting members of Linda Mwananchi in their facilities.
“If you are a hotel owner in Homa Bay Constituency, you must know the people who have slept in your hotel. We will deal with that person and even the hotel,” he said.
Kaluma said the county leadership and the entire leadership had given directions.
“My people, I came to talk to the youths to protect us now that we have been invaded by the enemy. I have finished arrangements with your leadership. Fuel is provided. From here we move to Imbo, Rodi, and Homa Bay. Our party is ODM. It is President Ruto’s second term,” he said.
A vote of no confidence
A successful rally would be a vote of no confidence in Wanga and may trigger a negative reaction in the broad-based coalition. A successful rally may dilute her power and take the gubernatorial battle a notch higher.
Already Wanga has to contend with the rebelling greater Karachuonyo, who have openly opposed her regime and control over 40 percent of Homa Bay County’s vote.
Already, greater Rachuonyo has produced a candidate in immediate former Deputy Governor Joseph Oyugi Magwanga.
For Sifuna, Orengo, Babu, and Caroli, it will be a pregnant statement and a nip in the bud of Wanga’s political territory.
Babu wrote: “On August 16th, Homa Bay will not simply host a rally… It will welcome home one of its own. WE ARE COMING!!”
Orengo on Friday wrote: “Walisema Homabay ni no-go zone! Tell me where we are right now? Homabay. Leo ilikuwa mic check tu, Sunday ndio tuned in na watu wa Asego Kanyada. Itakuwa faya sana!”
Sifuna wrote: “Omabei… kale ka dance ketu time imefika… niliwaambia nitawaonyesha ma chuom… hii inaitwa Osiri Beach, Nyandiwa… tuonane asubuhi!”
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.
