Sunday, September 5, 2010

MPs shift focus to new gravy train



President Kibaki chairs a Cabinet meeting at State House, Nairobi. MPs will not be eligible for appointment to the Cabinet after the 2012 General Election. Photo/FILE
By SUNDAY NATION Team newsdesk@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, September 4 2010 at 22:30

The jostling for positions created by the new Constitution has sparked intense lobbying among politicians.

That MPS will no longer be ministers and that counties will have a bigger jurisdiction has sent the sitting legislators back to the drawing board as they seek to maintain their relevance in the new political dispensation.

Nyanza and Western provinces have 10 counties between them, a development that has reignited old political rivalries. In Nyanza, for example, it gives the opportunity for the southern bloc under the Homa Bay and Migori counties to play the Southern Nyanza card against Central Nyanza which comprises Kisumu and Siaya.

In Gusiiland, there will be Nyamira and Kisii counties to the chagrin of the Gucha bloc who have argued that they have the numerical strength to warrant their own county. In Western, the Bukusu vote, which never gets to the same pot with the rest of the Western Province, has now been galvanised under Bungoma County as Busia, Kakamega and Vihiga form the others.

In South Rift, the creation of Kericho and Bomet counties is seen by many as a step in defining the Kipsigis as a voting bloc away from the North Rift. A flurry of activities of declaration and boardroom strategies has been witnessed in the region in the recent past.

Impeccable sources indicate that Nairobi is currently a bee-hive of activity as politicians burn the mid-night oil in a bid to come up with the line-ups for their respective counties. The source further indicated that most meetings are being spearheaded by MPs.

Nyamira County will accommodate five districts drawn from the three constituencies. It will be a gigantic task for anyone to get any key elective post in the county, considering that even parliamentary seats from the three constituencies in the last General Election attracted the highest number of candidates in the country.

The race for the county seats will be largely between Abagirango and Abagetutu clans. Abagetutu are disadvantaged since they are a minority in the county. Abagirango make up Mugirango North and Mugirango West constituencies. Usually, clannism determines the politics of the area.

However, Abagetutu, unlike Abagirango, are divided, a situation the former have utilised in the past to get top seats like in the Kenya National Union of Teachers, Nyamira branch. Former nominated MP Catherine Nyamato said she will go for a women’s representative post in the Nyamira County.

“My track record as a nominated MP in the country is well known,” she said. Mrs Nyamato became the first woman Gusii MP after she was nominated in 1997 by retired President Moi. In Kitutu Masaba, parliamentary loser Nelson Gichaba Simba (DP) has declared an interest in a senate seat in the county.

In Bomet County, the battle seems to be a Chepalungu constituency affair with the leaders to watch being sitting MP Isaac Ruto, former East African Community minister John Koech and former Local Government Permanent Secretary Sammy Kirui.

The Bomet County under the new dispensation brings together Bomet, Chepalungu, Sotik and Konoin constituencies and whose sitting MPs are assistant minister for Home Affairs Beatrice Kones, Mr Ruto, Dr Joyce Laboso and Dr Julius Kones respectively.

Reported by Benson Nyagesiba, Henry Nyarora, Eric Oloo, and Maurice Kaluoch

No comments:

Post a Comment