By Anderson Ojwang
Despite the stumbling block that impeded his early life, one Evans Oloo Gor has defied the odds to rewrite his story. The never-die attitude and spirit of Oloo could be attributed to his current societal standing.
He can be summed as a true testimony of what resilience, self- belief and commitment can birth in an individual journey to self- actualization.
That is why Oloo has written his story as an orphan at a tender age from a humble background to one of the successful prolific public litigants in the country.
His desire for education did not die and recently, he was one of the adult candidates who sat for last year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE) where he obtained a grade D constant while his son got a grade B.
And in his quest to become a lawyer, he is looking at various options to bridge the essential subjects so that he can study law from the basic level up to degree.
“I registered for KCSE and I only attended class for two months that is from September to during the exams period. After class eight, I never went back to school,” he says.
From a humble family background, Oloo’s first obstacle in life happened in 1997, when a double tragedy struck his family. In 1997, Oloo was in class five in his village school, when both his mother and father died on the same day.
“I lost my mother in the morning and in the evening, my father who was ailing at Homa Bay district hospital also died. I am the firstborn boy in a polygamous home. It was the most difficult moment in my life. The death of my parents was so devastating but I decided to journey on. In 2000. I sat the Kenya Certificate of Primary Examinations (KCPE) and scored 25o marks. The results for two papers were cancelled in our school over alleged cheating,” he says.
With no school fees, Oloo opted to join training in Welding in Homa Bay which he successfully completed and became one of the upcoming and successful welders in Homa Bay town and its environs.
But the bug of social accountability caught up with Oloo when Plan International invited them for training on the constitution and social audit that would lead to certification.
The two-year training program was being undertaken by an organization based in the region but soon ran into trouble with the participants.
“The organization trained us on the new constitution and social audit. The training on social auditing was an eye-opener. The participants wondered and asked the organizers why they were paying so much to the hotel but were only giving the participants only Sh 500 after every week of training. The trainers decided to reduce training days to two days. The participants decided to investigate how much the organization was paying the hotel for the two days.
We realized the organization was still paying the same amount for the six days and we decided to write to Plan International, who acted divisively by cancelling the project and firing the officers alleged to be engaged in the financial misappropriation.
We did not get certificates but it became my turning point in public litigation and social auditing of public institutions,” he says.
But all was not lost as the Judges and magistrates vetting board trained them on constitution and social audit and awarded certificate in 2014.
Oloo has prosecuted 64 cases successfully in which he has won and lost in both incidents and he is proud of his contributions to the social welfare of Kenyans.
“ During Covid 19, when the government announced the reopening of the schools, We moved to Kisii High Court in 2020 to challenge the decision that the schools should not reopen until the government put safety measures in place to make sure that children were not exposed to danger.
The court referred us for mediation which was later adopted as the judgement of the High Court. At the mediation, it was agreed that schools should have additional classrooms to keep social distance and that re-opening was to be in phases with the candidate classes mainly class four, class eight and form 4.
The remaining classes were to re-open after the government had put in place safety measures in place,” he says.
In 2019, Oloo and his team also moved to Kisumu Employment and Labor Court where they challenged the government over Census recruitment following vacancies advertisement.
“Most of the vacancies had been secured by the teachers and this was against the grain and the spirit of the law according to Article 71 of the constitution, that a public servant should not earn two salaries.The judge gave a ruling in our favour but a Mombasa Employment and Labor court overturned the ruling later,” he says.
Back in Homa Bay county, Oloo was a thorn in the flesh of then Governor Cyprian Awiti who he took to court on several accounts.
“I challenged the appointment of Homa Bay municipal board that was wrongly constituted. Awiti constituted the Board using Urban areas and City Act 2011 instead of the Amended 2019 Act.Awiti appointed nine members instead of seven according to the amended Act and did not meet the constitutional provision of gender, youths, marginalized and persons with disability. The court quashed the appointments,” he says.
In 2019, he challenged the appointment of County Executive Committee member (CEC) on the grain that there was no youth in it. This made Awiti appoint one Mr. Odero Matata to the cabinet.
“ I lost a case on the budget issue by the county Government of Homa Bay that 2017-2018 there was no development done and wanted to know where the funds that were budgeted for in that year went. We lost the case and did not appeal,” he says.
With the exit of Awiti and entry of Governor Gladys Wanga, Oloo has continued with his crusade on social audit.
“I challenged in Court the appointment Governor Wanga’s delivery unit and advisors in which Kisumu Court quashed the appointments but eight months later they appealed and the court overturned the ruling,” he says.
Currently, Oloo has prepared 10 cases against the County Government of Homa Bay and the Assembly that he will present in Court when judges resume work from vacation.
