KISUMU, Kenya, Feb 19 – Four senior politicians from Kisumu County have settled on former Chief Administrative Secretary for East Africa Community Ken Obura as their preferred candidate for the county’s top job.
Obura will now square it out with the current Governor Prof. Anyang Nyong’o in the ODM party primaries under Azimio La Umoja.
The leaders who included Kisumu Senator Fred Outa, former Kisumu Governor Jack Ranguma and former Kisumu Assembly Speaker Onyango Oloo unanimously agreed to tame their ambitions in favour of Obura in a calculated move to enhance their chances to dethrone Nyong’o.
While unveiling the candidate at the Central Square along Oginga Odinga Street in Kisumu on Friday, Senator Outa they chose consensus as a model recommended by ODM to name candidates ahead of the polls.
They claimed that they invited Governor Nyong’o to the consensus table but he failed to show up. Capital News could not immediately verify the claim.
Outa said Kisumu County requires a leader who has a listening ear and an open-door policy.
He said their alliance harbors no hatred for Governor Nyong’o, but are convinced that his administration has failed to fulfill the aspirations of Kisumu County residents.
“Kenyans voted to decentralize government, ushering in a new era of leadership, but the populace, Kisumu County for instance, has nothing positive to write home about devolution” he said.
The Senator said they agreed to come together to fix the mess created in the City of Kisumu where small-business owners have been edged out of business by the current regime.
“The revenue streams in the county have been affected, we all know small businesses run the economy and also lead the way in innovation,” he said.
“And for the small business owners and the workers they employ, the choice of which person takes the Oath of office in August this year, for Kisumu Gubernatorial position, could mean the difference between success and total failure,” he added.
On healthcare, Outa said the alliance was committed to ensuring that people everywhere in the county can obtain health services when and where they need them and are equally committed to ensuring that those services are of good quality.
“Quite honestly, there can be no universal health coverage without quality care,” he noted.
In his acceptance speech, Obura expressed gratitude for the endorsement while pledging to serve with humility and honor.
He assured the people of Kisumu that his leadership will be consultative.
“I will start campaigns next week, door to door, without any vehicle to speak to our people on the need to change Kisumu leadership,” he said.
Obura served as the MP for Kisumu Central between 2012-2017 and lost in the 2017 election to the Fred Ouda.
He had leaned towards the Jubilee administration and claimed credit for the kazi kwa vijana initiative that offered casual jobs for youths in Manyatta, Obunga and Nyalenda slums.
