KANYADUDI: Wanga’s war against Luo leaders hurts community and herself

Kenya is still reeling from the effects of Raila Odinga’s absence from the nation’s routine political activities. For over four decades, Raila had been a permanent fixture in politics and national leadership. Both his supporters and foes have been openly confused on how to navigate their politics in his absence.

Previously, Raila had been out of direct active politics due to incarceration. Remotely, though, his influence still pervaded the political spectrum. His death has thrown political operatives into confusion.

Most affected are his ODM Party stronghold in general and the Luo community in particular. Because of his autocratic style of leadership, Raila did not establish an open succession process.

In this regard, every key leader has come out to declare what they consider to be Raila’s vision and intentions towards the end of his life. Given the lack of a shared understanding of his last wishes, many have claimed his mantle in the void left by his death.

The struggle has exposed the soft underbelly of the party that lacks strong leadership structures to withstand the absence of its founding leader.

It was anticipated the party would join the ranks of renowned leading political parties of the continent, including the ANC and CCM. The two have been able to outlive their founders led by Nelson Mandela and Julius Nyerere, respectively.

ODM has sadly failed this test, although  analysts are not surprised by the turn of events. Within the party hierarchy, Raila strategically scattered his peers who would have easily slipped into his shoes.

These are the people who shared the same history and ideology with the doyen of opposition. Top in this cast include Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o and James Orengo, the governors of Kisumu and Siaya, respectively. They are conveniently outside the mainstream party leadership. They therefore cannot reenter the party ranks and continue where Raila left off.

The absence of a strong character as leader in the ODM party has led to vicious struggle for the control of the Raila constituency. Nowhere has this played out more loudly than Luoland.

Most, if not all of the competitors, have invoked the name of Raila in their quest except for Raymond Omollo, the PS for Interior. Dr Omollo was in government long before the broad-based government arrangement between Raila and President William Ruto.

He had started off with the Jubilee administration under Uhuru Kenyatta with Ruto as deputy. He therefore took an unprecedented risk to campaign openly for a party antagonistic to ODM in Luoland. The stakes would pay off as he became a key pillar in the Ruto administration and a crucial bridge in the rapprochement between Raila and Ruto.

Jakom held Gladys Wanga’s hand from her first day in politics, initially through the days of the late Senator Otieno Kajwang’. As the dust settled on the new Constitution, Wanga eyed what appeared to be a nondescript position at the time.

The Constitution had entrenched affirmative action by establishing 47 county seats reserved for women. She gunned for the Homa Bay county women’s representative seat and won on her first attempt in 2013.

She was roped in by Kajuang’ into the line-up that comprised Cyprian Awiti as governor. That county team distributed the ODM party tickets to allies considered easy-to-control loyalists.

Her aggressiveness made her stand out among her peers and during the 2017 election, and she got the party’s governor nomination unopposed. Having been earlier elected ODM’s county chairperson, and in the absence of Kajwang’ who passed on midstream, Wanga was the party’s top dog.

She single-handedly determined who got the party nomination for seats in the county. The MCAs were at her beck and call. Awiti had suffered an irreparable legitimacy test in his second term, with the protracted contested win against Oyugi Magwanga.

Wanga thus had a ready opportunity to employ tight control of the assembly. When Awiti was winding up his tour of duty in 2022, he had no better choice than throwing in his lot with Wanga.

Raila once again came in handy to prevail upon all other candidates to step down. Wanga, therefore, got the direct party nomination for governor; Magwanga was cajoled to deputise her. That combined ticket romped home easily and her only challenger, Dr Evans Kidero lost his election petition against the outcome.

In the National Assembly, Wanga deftly exploited her close ties with Raila to lobby for membership in key parliamentary committees. She also played the gender card to dominate her male colleagues.

In the same vein, she played the youth card to outsmart senior women leaders from Nyanza. Before they could fully grasp what had befallen them, Millie Odhiambo, Lillian Gogo, Eve Obara, Rosa Buyu, Christine Ombaka, Pamela Odhiambo and later Zainab Mohammed Fatuma found themselves playing second fiddle to Wanga. Not even Raila’s sister, Ruth Odinga was spared.

When the party’s top leadership was reorganised and reconstituted upon establishment of the broad-based government, she gained big. John Mbadi, who was ODM  national chairman,  was nominated to the Cabinet to head the National Treasury. She replaced the former Suba South MP as national chairperson. This boosted her profile significantly and she stepped into her new role with characteristic gusto.

With Raila firmly on her side, she moved fast to stamp her authority on the party fraternity. She used her strategic position as governor to organise high-profile events in the county and gleefully had party leader Raila grace the occasions as chief guest. Other leaders exhibited decorum and treated the relationship between Raila and Ruto with requisite behaviour required by protocol.

Wanga, on the other hand, chose to openly show that her party leader took precedence over the President. The county government placed at her disposal power and resources that enabled her to overtly demand obedience and strict adherence to her will within the county and beyond. These demands were easily attained within the framework of ODM.

However, she had the little but crucial matter of the UDA operatives in the county. The ruling party had earlier on conducted its grassroots elections and had officials chosen at all levels.

Since the two party leaders, Raila and Ruto, had decided to work together, Wanga had to tolerate if not accommodate the UDA leadership in the county.  Both sides had to demonstrate collegiality if only to please their bosses. But Wanga had the bigger responsibility as leader of the dominant party in the region.

In the constellation of her perceived opponents are county political heavyweights. They include former Nairobi Governor Kidero, her deputy Magwanga and her predecessor Mbadi. However, looming large with overbearing state power and his shadow lurking in every nook and cranny of the country is Omollo.

A soft-spoken intellectual with an unassuming personality, Omollo has endeared himself to rural folks through his numerous personal projects. The projects that target widows and youth have uplifted their livelihoods and improved their physical living conditions.

He has also lobbied the national government to finance major development projects that have been transformative. While these projects are spread across the entire country, Wanga is scared to hell about those implemented within her county.

It is because of this that Omollo has been her central target for political annihilation. In recent times, the media has reported a number of times that she has not been shy in demanding his removal from the government altogether.

The governor’s wars with leaders from her region are escalating by the day. The numbers are increasing, which might lead to her being isolated. When President Ruto organised a welcome party for the new UDA and ODM legislators, she led the victors from the ODM side to boycott the event. Her party leader, Oburu Oginga, however, attended and his discomfort and embarrassment at the event were visible.

Soon afterward, during the burial of Raila’s sister, Beryl Achieng’ a commotion was caused by the late arrival of Kasipul MP, Hon Boyd Were. Fingers were pointed in the direction and Hon Ruth Odinga did not hesitate to reprimand the youths involved. But the big question was why seek to dominate the Jaramogi family at public events?

As the senior most political leader in Nyanza, Wanga has the responsibility to unite the leaders. To whom much is granted, a lot more is demanded. The need for unity of purpose far supersedes the selfish desire to subdue perceived opponents.

The country is big enough for all of them and the county has enough room for every one of them. The leaders from Luoland must understand that the national government has much more resources than the county governments.

It is much easier to lobby as a united front than when fragmented into smaller cocoons competing amongst themselves. The current turf wars thus sacrifice the community’s development at the altar of personal aggrandisement and ego massaging.