There is no
doubt that Rongo politician Dalmas Otieno Anyango has been a towering political
figure in Nyanza, having served as a cabinet minister both under the Kanu regime
and more recently, under the Coalition Government of the retired President Mwai
Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga.
Otieno has
been a colourful politician with the gift of the garb, endowed with massive
resources, both at the personal level and from his former Kanu party and its
leader, retired President Daniel Arap Moi and his political and business
friends.
Dalmas (send right)with South Sudanese delegation and President Kenyatta at State house |
Dalmas is now convinced more than ever before that he is ripe for a bigger national role,
possibly as the leader of a political party and presidential candidate, going
by his most recent pronouncements.
But many
analysts of the Nyanza and Kenyan political scene believe something has been pricking
the political skin of the former Minister and longtime Kanu point man in Nyanza
and now it has begun to itch.
Many pundits are convinced that his clamour for a bigger political office or
a political party outside the Orange Democratic Movement (DM) is not necessarily
driven by a desire to deliver any earth shaking developmental transformation of
Nyanza or the Luo community that he purports to be speaking on behalf of.
The
preponderant view is that he is acting at the behest of certain political
forces keen on dismantling the legacy of the ODM leader, Raila Odinga, and
creating a kink in the Luo community's resilient solidarity and unity fortress, to
allow external forces gain a foothold for political and other gains.
PM Raila Odinga, wife Ida, arrive in Unga, Ndhiwa for the late Ojode's burial |
A peak into
Dalmas Otieno’s political past will reveal that he is not behaving out of
character and that his recent political moves conform to his political past
which, for 21 of his 26 years in politics, has been defined by a
defense of the status quo and more specifically, the decadent Kanu party and its
ousted regime.
Many people view the Jubilee Coalition, consisting of The National Alliance
(TNA) and the United Republican Party (URP) led by President Uhuru Kenyatta and
his Deputy President William Ruto respectively as largely a re-incarnation of
the old Kanu party.
The two
Jubilee Coalition leaders were Otieno’s buddies in Kanu and there is little doubt that they have
kept in close touch. Nothing illustrates this more than the recent appointment
of the Rongo MP as an envoy for the South Sudan peace talks at a time when he
had just become critical of ODM and Raila.
For sometimes since the March 4 General Elections, Otieno has shown open discomfort being in ODM. A section of the ODM MPs fom the Luo community have openly expressed alarm over Nairobi
Governor’ Evans Kidero’s harambee fundraising forays into Southern Nyanza and
the hefty donations he has been giving in the name of both Uhuru and Ruto.
The Rongo
MP has not only defended and lauded Kidero’s harambee efforts as the panacea to Luo
community’s development problems but also dismissed Raila’s consistent argument
that under a devolved system, Kenyans and by extension, the Luo community, needed
not beg from the national government.
Otieno was in
his element when he and the embattled Migori Governor Zakaria Okoth Obado hosted the Deputy President
at the Ranen Seventh Day Adventist Mission in Awendo Constituency late last year. Obado is known to be a close friend of Ruto from their days in the Minstry of Agriculture, which the DP was in charge of under the Coalition government while Obado was the chairman of the Kenya Sugar Board.
Speaking at the harambee at Ranen, Otieno was full of praise for Ruto and his "love" for development and magnanimity of extending his generousity to Nyanza and other areas that never voted for Jubilee Coalition during the March 4, 2013 General Elections.
The former minister made it clear to Ruto that he would work closely with the national government “for the development” of his Rongo Constituency. That was also the slant of Obado’s speech, which was not unexpected.
Obado was elected on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by former South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara. Immediately after the March 4 General Elections, the party entered into a post- election MOU with the Jubilee Coalition. For the last one year, Obado has been on edge, not knowing how to act in this difficult political environment.
On the one hand, he is in Jubilee by virtue of having ditched ODM and got elected on PDP ticket which is now in the rival coalition while on the other his voters were largely ODM supporters with a large group of Members of County Assemblies elected on ODM ticket.
Twice when Ruto has visited Migori, the DP could only be hosted in Kuria where his URP party got one seat while the other went to Shadrack Manga of Kanu, which is also part of their coalition. Obado has since his election avoided any ODM functions and skiped even those that leader Raila was in attendance his own county.
During the burial of the wife of former MP Owino Likowa in Kakrao, Obado caused a scene by attempting to snatch the microphone from Siaya Senator James Orengo was on the podium when he arrived.
Obado initially declined to speak before Orengo as the area MP Junet Mohamed had proposed, arguing because Migori was an ODM zone, Oreng was the more senior politician to speak last. However, Obado shot from his seat to interrupt Orengo who apparently annoyed him for calling on voters to reject him if the Supreme Court upheald the Court of Appeal ruling thatt voters in the county go for a by-election.
The former minister made it clear to Ruto that he would work closely with the national government “for the development” of his Rongo Constituency. That was also the slant of Obado’s speech, which was not unexpected.
Obado was elected on Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), led by former South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara. Immediately after the March 4 General Elections, the party entered into a post- election MOU with the Jubilee Coalition. For the last one year, Obado has been on edge, not knowing how to act in this difficult political environment.
On the one hand, he is in Jubilee by virtue of having ditched ODM and got elected on PDP ticket which is now in the rival coalition while on the other his voters were largely ODM supporters with a large group of Members of County Assemblies elected on ODM ticket.
Twice when Ruto has visited Migori, the DP could only be hosted in Kuria where his URP party got one seat while the other went to Shadrack Manga of Kanu, which is also part of their coalition. Obado has since his election avoided any ODM functions and skiped even those that leader Raila was in attendance his own county.
During the burial of the wife of former MP Owino Likowa in Kakrao, Obado caused a scene by attempting to snatch the microphone from Siaya Senator James Orengo was on the podium when he arrived.
Obado initially declined to speak before Orengo as the area MP Junet Mohamed had proposed, arguing because Migori was an ODM zone, Oreng was the more senior politician to speak last. However, Obado shot from his seat to interrupt Orengo who apparently annoyed him for calling on voters to reject him if the Supreme Court upheald the Court of Appeal ruling thatt voters in the county go for a by-election.
Otieno
has since last year been seen to be speaking out of turn at various other forums, but more pointedly in
Bondo, Raila’s home turf, at the party to celebrate the election of Bondo MP
Gideon Ochanda.
At the
Ochanda party, Otieno dismissed Raila’s position saying it was misguided urging
other Luo ODM MPs to ignore their party leader and work closely with the Jubilee government
which he said has the power and the resources for development.
“Dongo orem e piny Luo ka nikech kar yalo tich to jotelo yalore kendgi!
Ng’ato kik wuondu ni ok unyal tiyo gi sirkand Ouru Kenyatta, (Luoland is backward because leaders are busy
undermining one another instead of discussing development. Nobody should lie to you or dissuade you from working closely with the Uhuru Kenyatta government)” Dalmas intoned to
the surprised crowd.
Otieno later left in
a hurry, ostensibly to attend to other matters,before other ODM MPs could arrive. And arrive they did later, in a group that included Oburu Odinga, James Orengo, Nicholas Gumbo, Jakoyo Midiwo, John
Mbadi, James Opiyo Wandai, among from a funeral in neighbouring Gem Constituency.
They launched a scathing attack on Otieno, describing him as a dishonet and an ungrateful person, who was looking at a gift horse in the mouth. They said ODM and Raila who he was now rubbishing, had pulled him from political oblivion and made him a cabinet minster for five years.
They said Otieno had never genuinely been in ODM and had all along retained his links with his former party Kanu, to which he ws now plotting a return.
"Dalmas to ok osebedo jakorwa malong'o. Enga mana kocha to nyocha obiro irwa ka mana mar wuondruok to kwasekonye to kendo koro olokore kodwa, (Dalmas has never been really on our side. He has always been on the other side and he joined us pretending to be sincere but has turned his back on us after we helped him)" said Oburu.
They launched a scathing attack on Otieno, describing him as a dishonet and an ungrateful person, who was looking at a gift horse in the mouth. They said ODM and Raila who he was now rubbishing, had pulled him from political oblivion and made him a cabinet minster for five years.
They said Otieno had never genuinely been in ODM and had all along retained his links with his former party Kanu, to which he ws now plotting a return.
"Dalmas to ok osebedo jakorwa malong'o. Enga mana kocha to nyocha obiro irwa ka mana mar wuondruok to kwasekonye to kendo koro olokore kodwa, (Dalmas has never been really on our side. He has always been on the other side and he joined us pretending to be sincere but has turned his back on us after we helped him)" said Oburu.
So, now,
like in the Kanu era of the 1990s, Otieno has thrust himself into the arena,
once again appearing bent on antagonizing the Luo community and its stand on national politics; that they do not need to bend over backwards to accomodate and give legitimacy to a national government, which
like all others over the last fifty years, has, in their opinion, little regard for them.
Otieno was not known in political circles before 1988. But that year, he was suddenly thrust into the political limelight through the infamous “mlolongo”
(queue voting system) by the late Hezekiah Oyugi Ogango, at the time, a
powerful Permanent Secretary for Internal Security and Provincial
Administration in the Kanu government.
He became
the Rongo MP through the massively rigged “mlolongo” system which many people described as "a selection” and not an election process. Kanu party youths and
security agents intimidated the voters and in some cases, whipped people to
forcefully line up in his favour.
When the
agitation for a multi-party system finally bore fruit and Kenyans went to the
General Elections of 1992, Otieno stuck with Kanu. and lost his Rongo seat to his uncle Linus Aluoch Polo of Ford Kenya.
In an apparent demonstration of his loyalty to Kanu and Moi, Otieno was to make a statement
against his Luo community as the elections approached, which has haunted him to date.
The media
reported Otieno as ominously predicting that the Luo would never rule Kenya
even for the next 100 years unless they returned to Kanu, which he argued, was
their historical party to which they had donated instruments and emblems that made
the national and party flags.
“Kanu eodwa kama wan kaka jo-Luo, wakane gigewa kaka okumba, tonge, gik mane
wakedogo gi wasigu, kod thuon gweno,ma wagoyogo mier,( Kanu is our home where we as Luos, kept the shield
and spears for defending the community against enemies and the cockerel, for
making new homes,” Otieno would often repeat over and over in the 1990s.
The Rongo
MP took a lot of flak from many Luo leaders who had then moved to the opposition
Ford Kenya. The community was so outraged that for decades, Otieno was
virtually a political pariah, incapable of being elected by Rongo voters, till
he joined other Luo leaders and Raila in ODM in 2007.
From 1992, the Luo community, who were at the forefront of agitation for political pluralism
under the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, were all in Ford Kenya as that year’s elections
approached.
The Luo were part of the earthshaking original political movement –Forum for the Restoration
of Democracy (FORD) which had brought together Odinga, former ministers Kenneth
Matiba, Masinde Muliro, Charles Rubia and a slew of young politicians named
“the Young Turks”.
But
political egos and competition saw the original FORD split into two, with
Matiba and the late Martin Shikuku running away with one side which they named
Ford Asili, while Jaramogi with a number of the Young Turks, including his son,
Raila, James Orengo, Prof Anyang’Nyong’o, Paul Muite, Kiraitu Murungi, Mukhisa
Kituyi and Gitobu Imanyara, among others, teamed up to form Ford Kenya.
Dalmas remained comfortably ensconced in Kanu,
actually becoming a cabinet minister, and representing, to the Luo community, the
face of Kanu’s decades of painful memories of persecution, brutality, torture, detentions,
political and economic exclusion.
So in the 1992
General Elections, Otieno was trounced by Polo on Ford Kenya
ticket who went on to represent Rongo from
1993 to 2002 when former Cabinet Minister Polycarp Ochillo Ayacko took over.
However, Otieno
remained in parliament as a Kanu nominee, serving in different ministries to
spite his rebellious community and to represent Kanu interests, which he did up
to 2007 when for the first time, he grudgingly teamed up with Raila in ODM, which
he now wants to ditch.
Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda |
In essence, Otieno was never at any time elected
democratically as MP from 1988 until he joined ODM in 2007 which gave him a new
lease of life and legitimacy that he never had for all those years he was in
Kanu.
That Otieno
eventually joined Raila’s side in Luo and national politics was something of
surprise to many people given the open disdain with which he has always regarded the ODM leader and
past opposition parties that have been associated with the Odinga family.
Few people know what motivated Otieno to join Raila but those in the know attribute it to a number of factors.
First, his
erstwhile party Kanu, had shrunk in size and influence after its defeat by the
Rainbow Coalition/Narc in 2002, leaving the former Minister with little or no access
the financial largesse and political influence that he had enjoyed and wielded for a long time.
Analysts
say his business empire was not doing very well and one of the financial
institutions he had been closely associated with during the Kanu days, Thabiti Finance
Ltd, had collapsed. This scenario had left him vulnerable.
On the
political front, Otieno had suffered a pariah status over the years and with
Moi out of power, he retained no iota of political warmth and he was not nominated back to parliament. The freezing political
Siberia was so biting he had to do something about it.
There is the other narrative which says Raila roped him in to tap his deep Kanu links, to try to woo back his longtime associate in Kanu, William Ruto, who was pulling away from ODM over The Hague trial cloud.
Otieno seems to be clutching onto his reported role of being part of the team that brokered the deal between the Wiper brigade, part of his long time Kanu
colleagues, led by Kalonzo Musyoka and one time Provincial Commissioner turned
politician David Musila and ODM to create Cord Colaition.
The former minister appears to be putting such a high premium on his role in the founding of the Cord Coalition that it should automatically translate to his elevation to some senior position within ODM.
In the run-up to the botched ODM party elections, Dalmas made it look like he had acquired such very high democratic credentials that should have made him not only a dominant voice in the preparation for the elections but should have confered on him, almost unchallnged, the position of party Secretary General.
When it emerged that Raila was not keen to have too many Luos crowding space in the top echelons of the party, Otieno cried foul, dismissing the ODM leader as undemocratic and undermining his bid for the seat. Many people have wondered where Otieno got the credentials to pontificate about democracy.
Therun up to the botched ODM elections marked a turning point as it was shortly after his loud complaints that Uhuru appointed him to the new South Sudan assignment which has left many people baffled given that Otieno has no background in diplomacy and international relations.
The former minister appears to be putting such a high premium on his role in the founding of the Cord Coalition that it should automatically translate to his elevation to some senior position within ODM.
In the run-up to the botched ODM party elections, Dalmas made it look like he had acquired such very high democratic credentials that should have made him not only a dominant voice in the preparation for the elections but should have confered on him, almost unchallnged, the position of party Secretary General.
When it emerged that Raila was not keen to have too many Luos crowding space in the top echelons of the party, Otieno cried foul, dismissing the ODM leader as undemocratic and undermining his bid for the seat. Many people have wondered where Otieno got the credentials to pontificate about democracy.
Therun up to the botched ODM elections marked a turning point as it was shortly after his loud complaints that Uhuru appointed him to the new South Sudan assignment which has left many people baffled given that Otieno has no background in diplomacy and international relations.
Otieno’s
entry into ODM in 2007 came at some cost to Raila. A number of the former Prime
Minister’s close associates including his elder brother Dr. Oburu Odinga did
not and have never trusted Dalmas.
Former
Assistant Minister and Ndhiwa MP the late Joshua Orwa Ojode who perished in a helicopter
crash with his Internal Security Minster Boss George Saitoti in June 2012,
never trusted him either and went to his grave bitter with Dalmas.
Ojode had
been close to Raila since his election as Ndhiwa MP in 1994 in a by-election
occasioned by the defection of then MP Tom Obondo to Kanu. Ojode had hoped to
be given a full and powerful ministerial position in the Post-Election Coalition
government.
Gwasi MP John Mbadi and his Bondo counterpart -Ochanda |
The entry
of Otieno, also from South Nyanza like Ojode, complicated the situation. Raila named the Rongo MP as Minister for Public Service, to Ojode;s discomfort. Ojode and other ODM insiders considered Otieno "an outsider who had fought Raila and ODM and was "a Johnie –come-
lately" who did not deserve such a plum job.
Dalmas kept
a low profile after his appointment to the cabinet in March 2008 till March
2013, but maintaned enough visibility and closeness to Raila to enable him survive that
difficult period.
However, many now think it was a strategy for survival and a convenience for him, and not representative of any ideological and loyalty shift away from from Kanu and the status quo.
However, many now think it was a strategy for survival and a convenience for him, and not representative of any ideological and loyalty shift away from from Kanu and the status quo.
Otieno’s
political profile and disposition to the vexed question of Luo
community’s political stand, contribution to the country’s democratization process and the
elusive efforts to lead the country can be described as intriguing and decidedly
negative.
To
understand that Otieno is behaving true to his long conservative and some say,
opportunistic, political character, it is important to trace some of his key political
activities and pronouncements since he entered into the political arena.
As already
alluded to above, Otieno rattled the Luo political psyche by saying the
community was ill advised to ditch Kanu and join Jaramogi in Ford, and later
Ford-Kenya and that they were fated to fail in their quest to rule this country, even for the next
100 years, unless they returned to Kanu.
Although the
former minister later claimed the media misquoted him, he has been unable to
shake off the label pinned on him as a person who has fought against the larger Luo community's
aspirations.
Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo |
That he has
now loudly pronounced his displeasure with ODM, a party that rescued him from
political oblivion, and announced that he is forming a new political party, has
not come as a surprise to those who have followed the former minister’s
political beliefs and inclinations over the last 26 years.
Immediately
after the 1992 elections, Dalmas is believed to have played a major role in the
defection in March 1993 of his then business and political friend Charles Oyugi
Owino “Likowa”as Migori MP from Ford-Kenya to Kanu.
Otieno was
to lead the Kanu brigade in Nyanza and from the national level in a campaign
blitz to get Likowa re-elected as Migori MP but the Ford-Kenya team, led by
Jaramogi himself, vanquished him and his team, instead getting Owino Acholla
elected as the new Migori MP.
However Otieno
acquited himself well as the Kanu pointman, assembling the remnants
of the Kanu team in Nyanza who included former minister and one time Kanu
Chairman Ndolo Ayah, former Health Minister Peter Nyakiamo, former Assistant
Ministers, Lazarus Amayo, Shadrack Manga and political chameleon Phares Oluoch
Kanindo.
Others in
his team were Kanu activists and businessmen Herbert Ojwang and the late Kassim
Owango and former South Nyanza County Council Chairman Aketch Chieng’, among a
motely of other low level officials.
In early 1994,
Otieno was at it again, helping to nab the then Ndhiwa MP Tom Obondo back to Kanu.
An attempt to lure the then Rangwe MP Prof Ouma Muga and Nyatike MP Ochola Ogur
hit a brick wall following hostility from their constituents.
Otieno
again, with his Kanu brigade, mounted a big and violent campaign to get Obondo
re-elected on Kanu ticket to no avail. The then little known Orwa Ojode
triumphed over Obondo to clinch the seat on Ford Kenya ticket.
Jaramogi died on January 20, 1994, and soon, Ford Kenya was to be rocked by
internal succession battles which pitted Raila and the then deputy party leader
Kijana Wamalwa,splitting the party into two.
Attempts to heal the rift through mediation led by Prof Edward Oyugi Akong'o, the ODM Migori gubernatorial candidate and Anglican Archbishop Mannases Kuria failed to yield any fruits with Raila eventually jumping ship to take over the little known National Development Party (NDP) from Stephen Oludhe and Mzee Okuwa Oguok
Attempts to heal the rift through mediation led by Prof Edward Oyugi Akong'o, the ODM Migori gubernatorial candidate and Anglican Archbishop Mannases Kuria failed to yield any fruits with Raila eventually jumping ship to take over the little known National Development Party (NDP) from Stephen Oludhe and Mzee Okuwa Oguok
The
apparent vacuum in Luo leadership attracted Otieno who mounted a determined bid for it, haggling publicly with the late Arch Bishop of Maseno South Henry Okullu over who
between them would fill up Odinga’s shoes as Luo leader.
During a
campaign rally for some civic seats at Opapo in his Rongo constituency in October 1994, Otieno
paraded a group of elders who he claimed had brought him a dream from Odinga’
"anointing" him the Luo leader!
“Uneno jodongogi? Gikelona lek koa kuom Jaramogi ni an ema akaw kare kaka
Ogae mar oganda Luo! Juok Piny omaka kendo an ma owira gi mor telo! (Behold, do you see these elders? They have come to
inform me of their dream from Jaramogi anointing me as the Luo leader. I am
possessed by the communal spirits as I am the one anointed to lead the
community!),” he ecstatically announced.
For those who can remember, The Daily Nation carried the report
prominently and followed it with a hilarious cartoon, featuring Otieno and
Okullu, attempting to fill jaramogi’s shoes, which were too big for them.
Luo elders, other Luo leaders in Ford Kenya including Raila himself dismissed Otieno's claims with derision, saying they were far fetched, wondering how
Jaramogi could annoint Dalmas to succeed him as Luo leader when the Nyanza Kanu leader was part of the scheme that thwarted his presidential ambitions and persecuted him to death.
Otieno
lost steam in his quest to step into Odinga’s shoes but not in his determination to
help Kanu gain a foothold in Nyanza, especially South Nyanza. He had a powerful
ally in the then Nyanza Provincial Commissioner Joseph Kaguthi who had also
initiated a nebulous outfit called “Church and State Cooperation.”
In March
1995, Dalmas, Nyakiamo and Likowa, among others, led a delegation of Suba Community leaders
and elders to the then President Moi’s Kabarak home, agitating for Suba
community autonomy from the “anti-government” Luos.
Moi
immediately instructed the PC Kaguthi to facilitate the creation of Suba District. What Dalmas and his delegation did not tell the president
was that the Suba community was so widely dispersed and had so intermarried with
the Luo that it was futile attempting to herd them into an administrative and
political corner.
The Kanu
leaning Suba leaders designed an elaborate stragey to benefit from Moi's handouts and appointments, in the process mounting a vicious attack against then Mbita Ford Kenya MP Dr. Omollo Opere, who had beaten
Nyakiamo, a longtime friend of Moi, to take over the Mbita seat in the 1992
General Elections.
The current
Suba District was created as part of this political intrigue, to convince the community that their continued association with Luos in the Opposition Ford Kenya would
hurt their development agenda.
The Suba
clans of “Jochula” in Awendo (to which Nation columnist William Ochieng’,
former Mathare MP Ochieng’ Mbeo among others belong), Josuna of the late former Minister John Henry Okwanyo and those in Muhuru, were spread across what
is now Migori County.
These
clans, residing more than 300 km from their kinsmen, in the Subaland proper along Lake Victoria, could not be herded back into the new Suba District, stretching from Ruri Hills near Homabay,
through Mbita, Mfangano, Gembe, Magunga and Gwasi and engulfing the Lambwe Game
Reserve.
Kaguthi had to be a realist in implementing the presidential decree in creating the new politico-administrative unit. In Migori, all the divisions in Suna were quickly renamed Suba -East, Central and West while Muhuru was made a Division, to separate it from the Kadem dominated Macalder Division.
Interestingly, despite getting the district and other administrative units, and other state goodies, the Suba community never really supported Kanu and continued electing their leaders on Ford-K and later on ODM ticket. Kanu got a few civic seats in subsequent by-elections though.
Interestingly, despite getting the district and other administrative units, and other state goodies, the Suba community never really supported Kanu and continued electing their leaders on Ford-K and later on ODM ticket. Kanu got a few civic seats in subsequent by-elections though.
The Kuria
had long been socialized about "the dangers of Luo domination" and anti-government stand. Through this divide and rule method presided over by Dalmas and Manga, the Kuria were hearded into the Kanu corner with promises of state goodies, with a new district being created for them in 1993.
The Kuria stuck to Kanu, under MPs Walter Mwita and Shadrack Manga from 1992-2002, moved to Democratic Party with Dr. Wilfred Machage from 2002-2013 and in 2013 back to Kanu and URP in parliamentary reresentation.
The Kuria stuck to Kanu, under MPs Walter Mwita and Shadrack Manga from 1992-2002, moved to Democratic Party with Dr. Wilfred Machage from 2002-2013 and in 2013 back to Kanu and URP in parliamentary reresentation.
However, under "a negotiated democracry" arrangment which did not go entirely according to expectations, Machage was elected Senator and Denita Ghati, Women County
Representative on ODM ticket by the larger Migori County electorate despite reluctant support
from their own Kuria community.
The determined attempts by Kanu
to fragment Nyanza and the Luo community into quarrelling pieces appears to return now, this time, sponsored by Kanu's offspring and successor, the Jubilee Coalition again,
with Dalmas as its chief priest. Of course there are the catechists and other low level people within this heirarchy.
In 1995,
Nyatike MP Ochola Ogur finally fell into the trap that Kanu had started laying
for him in 1994. He defected back to Kanu and despite a spirited campaign by
Dalmas and his Kanu team, Ogur lost to the little known Tom Onyango of Ford
Kenya.
Otieno kept
the Kanu flag flying, but now with diminished energy till the party was bundled
out of power by the Narc Coalition in 2002. Consistent entreaties by other Luo leaders
and supporters to join Narc and later ODM, fell on deaf years till he “saw the
light” in 2007.
But with
his new declared political direction and choice, Otieno is again consciously
drifting into what could easily be political oblivion. It is doubtful that
Otieno can drum up enough support for his new party, which some already refer to as “kalausi” (a
cyclone or storm) to rival ODM in Nyanza despite the Opposition party’s
internal problems and setbacks of losing two successive General elections.
What is
likely to put Otieno and his supporters into a political quandary is the
perception that the move is being instigated by those who
want to eat at Raila’s home base and scuttle Luo unity ahead of 2017.
A gathering in Nyanza: Otieno's party will be a hard sell in the area |
The youthful MPs from Luoland who have lately been critical of their party ODM are
unlikely to join Dalmas in what is evidently a politically suicidal mission,
given the community’s stubborn streak.
In 1997, Prof Anyang' Nyong'o joined in the current Lands cabinet Minister Charity Ngilu and his idological compatriot the late Dr. Appollo Njonjo to mount a campaing for the presidency and to challenge Raila, then running on the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ticket.
Nyong'o lost his Kisumu Rural seat and hand to eat humble pie and rejoin Raila for political rehabilitation. Siaya Senator James Orengo inherited the Social Democratic party and contested the presidency after a fall out with Raila in 2002 but did not go far, losing his Ugenya seat in the process.
Former Rangwe MP Shem Ochuodho also attempted to form some political outfit which never took off and in the process fled to the corporate sector, getting apponted to head the Kenya Pipeline and later took up an ICT position in Rwanda and is now in South Sudan doing ICT for the new government.
He resurfaced shortly before the March 2013 General Elections as a running mate to lawyer Paul Muite in what many laughed off as big joke. He could not even vote as he had not exercised due diligence in registering as a voter. He is currently championing the rights of the Kenyans in the Diaspora from his Juba base.
A more recent brazen attempt at "democratizing the Luo political landscape" or what others say was an attempt at "dismantling Odingaism", was mounted by former Rarieda MP and one time Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju.
He formed POA, a political outift that did not attract a single candidate from Nyanza, including all those who have always professed the need for "alternative political vehicle". Tuju himself never made it to the ballot as a presidential candidate despite a flamboyant launch and brief campaingn stint.
In 1997, Prof Anyang' Nyong'o joined in the current Lands cabinet Minister Charity Ngilu and his idological compatriot the late Dr. Appollo Njonjo to mount a campaing for the presidency and to challenge Raila, then running on the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) ticket.
Nyong'o lost his Kisumu Rural seat and hand to eat humble pie and rejoin Raila for political rehabilitation. Siaya Senator James Orengo inherited the Social Democratic party and contested the presidency after a fall out with Raila in 2002 but did not go far, losing his Ugenya seat in the process.
Former Rangwe MP Shem Ochuodho also attempted to form some political outfit which never took off and in the process fled to the corporate sector, getting apponted to head the Kenya Pipeline and later took up an ICT position in Rwanda and is now in South Sudan doing ICT for the new government.
He resurfaced shortly before the March 2013 General Elections as a running mate to lawyer Paul Muite in what many laughed off as big joke. He could not even vote as he had not exercised due diligence in registering as a voter. He is currently championing the rights of the Kenyans in the Diaspora from his Juba base.
A more recent brazen attempt at "democratizing the Luo political landscape" or what others say was an attempt at "dismantling Odingaism", was mounted by former Rarieda MP and one time Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju.
He formed POA, a political outift that did not attract a single candidate from Nyanza, including all those who have always professed the need for "alternative political vehicle". Tuju himself never made it to the ballot as a presidential candidate despite a flamboyant launch and brief campaingn stint.
Luo community solidarity, expressed a sit were through their inclination and loyalty to the Jaramogi legacy, dubbed
“Odingaism” and which currently resides in his son Raila, may be on the wane somewhat due to a number of factors.
But any effort to to get a new stream of thinking, ideology or an orientation different from this will most likely take along time to come, especially if the proponents portray the community as "undemocratic unqestioning followers" of that legacy.
The history of the Luo community over the last fifty years is repleat with such proponents being destroyed in the process. Many of such attempts are often driven by selfish interests which the larger Luo community believe are attempts to auction them to the highest bidder in the national political arena.
But any effort to to get a new stream of thinking, ideology or an orientation different from this will most likely take along time to come, especially if the proponents portray the community as "undemocratic unqestioning followers" of that legacy.
The history of the Luo community over the last fifty years is repleat with such proponents being destroyed in the process. Many of such attempts are often driven by selfish interests which the larger Luo community believe are attempts to auction them to the highest bidder in the national political arena.
There has been little exxcitement about Otieno's announcment of the possible formation of a new party. Reaction has been mute if not largely hostile. He was recently heckeled out of a funeral in Siaya County when he attempted to sell the new party and had to be rescued by Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga.
Callers to a recent radio talk show on Ramogi FM and comments from the ground have not been overly complementary of Otieno’s new move and he may need to remember the unpleasant songs of the 1990s composed to deride his Kanu stand, one of which went like this:
Callers to a recent radio talk show on Ramogi FM and comments from the ground have not been overly complementary of Otieno’s new move and he may need to remember the unpleasant songs of the 1990s composed to deride his Kanu stand, one of which went like this:
“Otieno
okelo pesa ji chamo nono, ji chamo nono, kura onge!;
Moi bende
omede, ji chamo nono, ji chamo nono, kura onge!
There is nothing new in this piece. What is it that is not known?
ReplyDeleteOtieno has a right to do what he is doing and the writer too. Whether he is going to lose or not is none of my business. It looks like I should be writing how this would not affect the size of my ugali on the table.
Thanks for reading the article and for your comments. It is part of the dialogue. We are sure there are many historical and factual issues that you may not have known or remembered which we have jogged your memory about, just to show that the politician himself is not doing anything new. Politics is about trying and winning or losing so our analysis is just painting scenarios . He has a right to go any direction he choses. Welcome.
Delete@Lusih the way you talk tells me that you dont seem to know much and you should just open your mind and be ready to learn more. This piece has has helped me and many others to be able to understand the dynamics of our politics in various regions (LUO NYANZA IN THIS CASE ) I find it very balanced and to the truth..ongera Janak for such an elaborate work..All the best to Hon. Dalmas Otieno but he should read the mood of the electorates if he wants to succeed in his quest.
ReplyDeleteThe people of Kenya are suffering from a collapsing national economy with thousands of citizens losing jobs every month as companies and donor funded organizations are closing down due to our collapsing foreign policy. High level corruption and tribalism by top leaders is .As a result, the people’s living conditions continue to deteriorate daily as they have failed to access basic social services that include health, education, water, electricity and sanitation.
ReplyDeleteGiven these challenges, the country needs a strong alternative political voice that is able to save the people of Kenya from such crises. Regrettably, just like politicians that have benefited from that alternative party now have cold feet to embrace opposition politics led by Raila Odinga. Instead they have chosen to weaken some of his grassroots support and like in Nyanza and coast. Actually for some in Migori , they do not even have the valor to face county politics and development let alone form parties that would whirlwind the people of Nyanza to nowhere (read oblivion). Over their vast experience in selfish politics of eating with the two KANU governments and a joyride in the coalition government as Ministers, their communities and even families are still laid back in abject poverty. Regrettably, such tendencies alienate genuine democrats within the party to the point where differences in value propositions have reached irreconcilable proportions.
Over the last few weeks, the CORD Team (also read as Orange) has intensified and broadened its strategy towards a broad based debate aimed at ensuring that there is leadership renewal that gives the country a new impetus in dealing with the national challenges that are confronting us.
My only request to those dividing us from within the coalition is that relax and watch RAO give us a voice that checks on corruption, ensures the implementation of devolution with adequate resources or sort out the land mess and insecurity that your bedmates have created over time OR leave us alone and resign. How loud should I say that my legislator?
We believe in a united democratic coalition that builds a broad based social movement that will deliver a democratic transition to social justice in and the time for such a movement is now.