Uhuru ties with Luo Nyanza

One of the highlights of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s first term that historians are unlikely to forget is his unflinching determination to reset ties between Central Kenya and Luo Nyanza.
Unlike any of his predecessors, President Uhuru carried a burden of history thanks to the frosty relationship between his father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, and his Vice President Jamamogi Oginga Odinga.
Differences between the two independence figure saw Kenyatta, Kenya’s first President, trigger the resignation of Odinga and the ideological rift took a tragic turn when in 1969 presidential guards killed 11 people in Kisumu after they pelted his motorcade with stones.
Mzee Kenyatta was in the lakeside town to open the Nyanza Provincial General Hospital – now Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital – that has been built with the aid of the Russian government, which was on the side of Odinga.
It did not help matters that two Luo leading lights Tom Mboya and Argwings Khodek had been assassinated in unclear circumstances fueling a perception that there was a plot by the Kikuyu to finish the Luo politically.
Ahead of the last General Election, Uhuru never made a single visit to Luo Nyanza.
The polarised political climate that informed campaigns and voters’ choices in that election can be traced back to the fallout between former President Mwai Kibaki and then Roads minister Raila Odinga after the former reneged on implementing a memorandum of understanding that would have seen the latter become prime minister after defeating independence party Kanu in the 2002 elections.
This only served to fuel antagonism between the Kikuyu and the Luo and set the stage for the hotly contested election of 2007 when Uhuru chose to break ranks with Raila to back Kibaki’s re-election and the face off between the two political giants in 2013.
Unlike Kibaki in 2007, Uhuru made a historic campaign tour of Luo Nyanza ahead of the 2013 elections and pundits were not lost on its significance.
He was warmly welcomed in Kisumu, Ahero, Katito, and Kasipul-Kabondo.

‘’What I have seen is amazing. I want to thank the people of Kisumu and ask you to allow me come back another day for a special rally, will you accept?” he posed during his September 2012 visit.
In the election, however, Uhuru perfomed dismally garnering 4,630 votes or 1.3 per cent of the tally compared to Raila’s 337, 232 in Kisumu county or 97 per cent of votes cast.

In Raila’s home county of Siaya, he got 884 votes (0.3 percent) while the former premier secured 284,031 votes (99.1 per cent).

The same case obtained in Homabay county where Raila got 303,447 votes (99.3 per cent) to Uhuru’s 732 (0.2 per cent).

In Migori county, Uhuru, which is multi-ethnic, Uhuru got a commendable 26,055 votes (10 per cent) while Raila again commanded majority votes by winning 225,645 votes (86.8 per cent).
To his credit, however, the President has been determined to ensure that Luo Nyanza like other regions that sided with Raila in 2013 feel part and parcel of the Kenyan nation.
President Uhuru rode to power on an alliance between his Kikuyu community and the Kalenjin, under the leadership of Deputy President Willian Ruto, which was formed to heal the wounds inflicted by the 2007/08 post-election violence.
However, he has numerously emphasised his desire to ensure that all Kenyans communities feel part of his administration. For this reason, the President has spend more time in counties and regions that did not vote for him to launch development projects sometimes leading to murmurs from his backyard.
During his first visit to Kisumu, which was considered a historic moment, Uhuru made the point of holding a Cabinet meeting at the local State Lodge highlighting the fact that power was not far away from the region.
In total, the President has since 2013 visited Luo Nyanza seven times since his election.

Thomas Omeno, Political science and sociology