PERCEPTIONS

Securing a parliamentary seat has not been so easy, and some politicians have had to persevere to make the long and strenuous journey. And it takes a fighting spirit to withstand the ruthless circumstances in which most perennial campaigners operated before winning in the recent elections.

If I were the type of people who lose hope I would not be an MP today. I thought I would have the Kitutu Chache parliamentary seat on a silver platter after my father died in 1996. It had become customary for sons or close relatives of dead MPs to inherit their seats but for some reason or another – that did not happen! In the past, I had thought it would be a walk-over in Kitutu Chache, given the powers behind me at the time. President Moi personally came to campaign for me in the past, but I lost the seat during the KANU nominations to Jimmy Angwenyi in 2002

I have all along believed to be the right person to represent the people of Kitutu Chache who had voted for my father for five consecutive terms. In the election that followed the by election after his death in 1997, I was in the race again and I did not succeed. I did not lose hope because I knew that becoming a people’s representative to me is a calling.

Even after failing to capture the seat in 2002, I continued with the fight until the last elections when I thrashed Mr. Angwenyi and 21 other candidates to win one of the most hotly contested seats in the country. I did not win because I had used money but due to the confidence that people of Kitutu Chache had in me. I made sure I was with them all the time, even during difficult times, when I was low or up.

Among the small things that I did is to make sure I attended almost all funerals in the constituency and be with the people to guide them how the Constituency Development Fund kitty should be used.

A DIFFERENT CALLING

The 2007 election was to me most special in very many ways – with or without a win. For the first time I really was connected with the reality of my people, the atrocities that had been done unto them made me at times so consumed, emotional and empathetic. This only propelled me more to strive to be hardworking and relentless in my quest for the seat. Many things had not been done right for the last 13 years. There was not much to point to that had changed over the years. As a matter of fact, in very many aspects; things had gotten worse for many because poverty and dependency had quickly took root. The CDF funds were supposed to revolutionize things for many in the constituency – but that never happened as well. These reasons and injustices gave me the fuel to set up a vicious campaign to take back the leadership of our community. This has been the only campaign that I have carried with very limited funding. As a matter of fact, I used up all my funding in supporting causes in the community in the last five years versus dishing it out to people in exchange for their votes …commonly known as “ogosera”. During my campaign, I often joked that my posho mill only had 4 pistons while those of my rivals that were adequately funded were operating with as many as 16 pistons – you get the picture! Many of my votes came from huge groups and individuals of mostly the youth and women who had been fed up with the way things were being run in the constituency. At many occasions during the tours to the villages and rallies, people often requested me to not give them money because it did not matter because this time they were going to vote with a conscious.

Many things including financing were odds that my campaign had to overcome to be successful. For the most part, my campaign was run with people who took no salaries or compensation, I received donations in forms of T shirts, posters, volunteers to work the voting centers as agents, vehicles and much more. This was truly a people campaign because I spent the little of my own to get elected especially towards the end of the campaign period when financial resources had depleted. The emotion of winning an election against all these odds speaks volumes and has subsequently humbled me in an astronomical way.

DIFFICULTIES AND OBSTACLES

The 2007 election had many bumps on the road; some of my own making but others structural and out of my control. Several rumors had been spelled out in order to decapitate my campaign, leading up to the last days of my campaign efforts; many had thought I had quit because they had been told that I had accepted a position in the civil service in lieu of the parliamentary seat.

During these times and carrying on to the election period, people started referring to me as “omwana” referring to the relationship of father and son power handover. This was used negatively by my opponents as they duped my campaign that with anarchical characteristics. The lack of any meaningful evidence to support their claim that I will be worse than them because my father had held the MP office before gave my campaign a breath of life and good publicity. For many years, Simon Nyachae had opposed my aspirations to re-enter politics partly because he and my father Zachary never saw eye to eye. As a matter of fact, it’s only until the death of my father that Simon eventually had a lot of free room to declare and eventually position himself as the Abagusii spokes person and leader. Simon bankrolled Angwenyi in all of his campaigns against me including the 1997 by-election. The generational change that swept in Gusii in 2007 saw Nyachae and his cronies exit unceremoniously with the likes of Angwenyi, Obwocha and Manduku despite their huge financial, resources and time investments in the 2007 campaign. Change was called for by the people of Kitutu Chache and it was delivered this time.

During the election period, it was common for aspirants to campaign for each other. Many of the entrants running against the old guard had strategized how we could overcome the Nyachae factor and his cronies in Gusii. Several people including parliamentary aspirants were injured when police dispersed an ODM meeting we were carrying out at Gesusu market in Nyaribari Masaba constituency in November of 2007. After sustaining head injuries and loss of money during a skirmish, I was rushed to Ram Hospital in Kisii town after being senselessly being beaten to near death by the police because they claimed that our meeting was not licensed. This violence and injustice had been instigated by politically connected individuals aligned with our rivals.

The nomination process was not cakewalk in its own workings either. I was unfortunate from the get go when I had change my candidacy under KANU ( a party that I have forever been affiliated to) to ODM when the national chairman declared an unapproved coalition and affiliation with PNU. This was done without consultations of the members and party officials that saw an exodus of many members to other parties. The affiliation of KANU with PNU went against my political will of changing things and the institutionalized stigma of bad politics in Kitutu Chache. That also in essence technically meant that I would run in the primaries against Angwenyi which seemed very suspect considering all facts at hand and the evident irregularities in the past party nomination process. My involvement with ODM was timely and strategic, I had been friends with the stalwarts of the party leadership, I went to school with Raila Odinga; Magara, Ruto and Mudavadi were close friends of mine. Unfortunately the ODM primaries were marred with irregularities with the Kitutu Chache one ending at 10 AM well even before ¼ of the constituents were to vote the flag bearer. Ongwae was declared winner and awarded the certificate, without much ado and time running out, I had no option but to find another home and thus reached out to ODM-K. I was received by the party chairman Kalonzo at an official televised ceremony and little did I know that the nominee certificate had been awarded to another contestant while we were at the ceremony. That left me no option at the last minute but to call on a friend of mine that had started a small ODM subsidiary party [PDP]. I was the eventual nominee of PDP at the last minute to secure being on Kitutu Chache ballot.

At this point, I had no obligation to any specific party or person and thus making my candidacy and win very special and empowering. I did campaign for ODM presidency and will continue to identify with ODM where applicable. My vote was very critical during the elections of Speaker as I was among the 6 non ODM MP's that cemented the win over PNU.

The win for the seat came to the wire as we waited for elections for over 20 hrs after its conclusion at Marani primary school. There was machinery and attempted plans to rig the elections as it had probably been done in the past 3 elections when I lost during the counting - BUT we were not going to let it happen this time again. Marred with rogue and aggression behavior of some competitors; deception; intimidation; violence and even casualties during the tallying process - we emerged the clear winners of a historic democratic process.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT AND THANKS

All in all, my long campaign has been a long torturous and expensive journey. I want to especially thank several specific people and groups that made my campaign a success. I will begin with my mother Teresa Omoke, my young brothers Jimmy Omae Omoke (USA), Kiki Onyonka, and my cousin Peter Siro Angwenyi. The involvement of John Bosco Mboga in my campaign was very highly appreciated. Mzee Rayori the campaign manager and his special agents and secretariat; Steve Ogamba; Theo and Stella Osebe; George Onkoba and Wilson for their financial and moral support; Justus Mochoge and his relatives from Nyatieko; special appreciation to Mzee Akama and the Tambacha group, Ndemo (Kegogi), Ken the coordinator and Kinara (Itibo); Augustus Orito (Rioma); Marani and Mosocho teams and especially the Bogusero team that really came through for me. I thank all the young men and women that carried and sympathized with me throughout my campaign even though I did not have money to give them. Finally, my competitors who put up a spirited contest more especially Ongwae who made my success more feasible.

Thank you all.

Yours Faithfully,

Hon.Momoima Richard Onyonka
MP. Kitutu Chache | Assist. Minister Foreign Affairs