Payback time: How saving Gov Obado came back to haunt Migori MCAs

The Orange Democratic Movement never forgave members of the Migori County Assembly (MCAs) for defying the party’s position to save Governor Okoth Obado from impeachment. Not once but twice.

And so when it organised primaries on Monday, the ground was already poisoned against the overwhelming majority of MCAs, who, worse still, had their own challenges in their respective wards.

Way before the polls were held, several party honchos never hid their disappointment with the House from the public. MCAs were said to be disloyal.

Only four serving MCAs bagged the ODM ticket in Monday’s voting, while the rest were defeated by political underdogs.

Last October, party chairman John Mbadi warned the MCAs of “unforeseen consequences” over their continued disloyalty to the party.

The Suba South MP, who attended the launch of Rongo University’s Macalder campus, had asked voters to send the entire assembly home for not only their defiance but also what he called ‘safeguarding devolution in the county’.

Mr Mbadi’s remarks followed a botched ouster motion against Governor Obado, who faces corruption charges alongside his four children and close allies.

Gave us hard time

“Most of these MCAs have given us a hard time with questionable loyalty to the party. The other time, they deliberately failed to defend devolution when a motion to impeach their governor emerged,” Mr Mbadi said.

ODM engineered an impeachment bid against Mr Obado, with the party’s top brass camping in the county to prevail on its MCAs to pass an ouster motion against him. There were subsequent claims that the lawmakers might have been bought to ignore the party.

The dispute turned into a battle royal between ODM chief Raila Odinga and the beleaguered governor, then perceived as Deputy President William Ruto’s point man in the South Nyanza region.

But the impeachment motion failed to take place after a majority of MCAs allied to Mr Obado scuttled it by failing to show up in the chambers.

Outfoxed, the party retreated but not without a warning to the politicians. They were told, without any ambiguity, that they’d have their day with the party and the people, and that day materialised on Monday.

Several ODM party leaders, including Senator Ochillo Ayacko, Nyatike MP Tom Odege and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed, and the party condemned both the House leadership and members for “failing the party”.

And true to their words, a whopping 33 MCAs, including House leaders, were beaten in the primaries, with only four getting ODM tickets.

Only North Kanyamkago MCA George Obama, his South Kanyamkago counterpart Graham Kagali, Central Sakwa’s Gershon Owii and South Sakwa’s MCA Edward Ouma won the nominations.

Masaba MCA Abedi Maroa was not on the ballot as he is vying for the Kuria West MP’s seat under ODM, whose ticket he won.

In the 2017 elections, the Orange party won 27 of the 40 ward seats.

Biggest casualties

Some of the biggest casualties in this year’s primaries were acting Speaker George Duro, who lost his Macalder Kanyarwanda ward seat, finishing a distant third to Felix Okwanyo, who garnered 1146 votes against Mr Duro’s 880.

Assembly Majority Leader Nestory Owiyo was also defeated by Mr Phillip Ouma, who received 1,238 votes against Mr Owiyo’s 679 to clinch the West Sakwa ward slot.

Minority Whip Kevins Keke also lost his South Kamagambo seat to Mr Collins Ochieng, who won 849 votes against Mr Keke’s 222.

“The three top assembly leaders being floored by newcomers showed that most voters had lost hope in MCAs to bring the executive to account and do meaningful development,” noted political analyst Matiko Bohoko.

He said the assembly’s failure to oust Mr Obado after he was charged with a capital offence and corruption, as well as leadership wrangles that saw Speaker Boaz Okoth impeached, gave the MCAs a bad name.

Two MCAs elected as independents, Mr Boniface Oremo (East Kanyamkago) and Timon Mbogo (North Sakwa), who tried to return to the party after being locked out last time, were defeated by Mr Norman Ogolla and Mr William Mikwaya, respectively.

Three nominated MCAs contested in the polls but lost – Grace Oyamo (South Kanyamkago), Esther Onana (Kamagambo Central), Sarah Aoro (Suna Central) and Mary Odiga (Kamagambo Central).

“We are shocked by these results, which were openly forged. The process was marred by irregularities …,” Ms Oyamo said.

But the defeated politicians vowed to contest as independent candidates in the August 9 polls.

“The entire exercise seems predetermined. I will mount independent campaigns to prove to ODM that the nominations were shambolic, like I did last time,” Mr Oremo said.