Lobbying for Siaya Speaker heightens as four declare interest

The race for Siaya County Assembly Speaker has attracted four contenders as preparations to swear in ward reps are underway.

Those who have shown interest include lawyers George Okode (incumbent), Mr Maurice Okumu, Mr Evans Oruenjo and Mr George Mugoye.

The seat was occupied by Mr Okode for the past decade.

But the burden of choosing the next head of the House rests on the 29 MCAs elected on August 0.

Among the factors likely to play a role in picking a Speaker are regional balance and the political parties that the contestants are affiliated to.

All the contestants are affiliated to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), which has a majority of seats in the assembly.

Mr Okode hails from Asembo in Rarieda. He has been a beneficiary of the push for inclusivity.

He will bank on his 10-year record as Speaker and the relationship he has established with MCAs, most of whom retained their seats on ODM tickets.

Mr Okumu is from Ugunja sub-county, while Mr Oruenjo and Mr Mugoye are from Alego Usonga sub-county.

Clan politics

Siaya is dominated by the Luo community and so clans are at play. In the recent elections, Ugenya was allocated the governor’s seat and Sakwa took the Senate seat.

Alego got the deputy governor’s seat, while Gem retained the woman representative seat, and Rarieda is likely to retain the Speaker’s seat that the clan has occupied since the inception of devolution.

The race may prove challenging for Mr Oruenjo and Mr Mugoye, who are from the Alego clan, which already has the deputy governor seat.

Mr Okumu may also face a tough task convincing MCAs to vote for him, as he and Governor James Orengo come from the same Ugenya clan.

Besides being an accomplished lawyer, Mr Okumu was chairman of the Azimio presidential campaign committee in Siaya County in the recent election.

Mr Oruenjo, on the other hand, is an accomplished lawyer who also contested the Alego Usonga seat in 2017 and lost to Mr Samuel Atandi.

Mr Mugoye contested the Siaya governor’s seat this year but dropped his bid after ODM issued a direct ticket to Mr Orengo.

The Orange party has 27 elected MCAs in the Siaya legislature, one from UDM and one an independent.

Before the election, some Alego clan leaders pushed to get the Speaker’s seat instead of the deputy governor position.

“All that we want is the seat of the assembly Speaker, not the running mate. The latter is a mere assistant position with no powers to make decisions,” said Emanuel Omondi, the secretary of Alego caucus.

But the push collapsed after the ODM governor candidate settled on Mr William Oduol as his running mate. Mr Oduol is from Alego.

In the previous administration, the assembly was criticised for going to bed with the executive. Some Sh600 million is suspected to have been stolen under its watch.

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