Mzee Simeon Nyachae. Photo Jeptum Chesyina
Is there a secret plot to rebuild and impose a dynasty or family rule in Gusii politics? Is it a government project or a Nyachae family machination? If a Nyachae family scheme, who between Mzee Simeon Nyachae and his laid-back first born son Charles Nyachae is the architect?
All indications are that the organisers of this political game plan have reached an advanced stage. So committed are the key players in the plan that they have pushed Charles Nyachae to break the law (abuse of office) by openly staging political forays in Gusii land and playing partisan politics in a bold agenda to mainstream him as the next governor for Kisii county where he hails from.
In fact he has been accused of actively participating in political campaigns during two recent hotly contested by-elections, which were both won by Ford People (his father’s party) candidates Richard Tong'i (Nyaribari Chache) and Zebedeo Opore (Bonchari). He, however, denied vehemently and threatened to sue his accusers.
Even as he denies, his camp has been at work flooding most public functions: Harambees, prominent weddings and funerals with scores of former Ford People and PNU (Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity) legislators, civil leaders and activists.
In most of those functions, they have been singing the song of getting the Abagusii community to dump the opposition Cord and work with the Jubilee government. Instructively, key players have used such forums to ridicule the opposition and at times to publicly embarrass opposition legislators and MCA’s in attendance.
So determined is this group that very recently a shadowy group believed to be working at their behest filed a speculative petition to impeach Kisii Governor James Ongwae. Interestingly, some of the grounds they put forward to justify the impeachment were fictional and total fabrications. They surely are in a hurry to plant Charles Nyachae as their first beacon for erecting this monarchy.
The most telling bit about this crusade is that the key disciples and drivers are so loud about commandeering the Abagusii voters to President Uhuru Kenyatta’s corner and banishing Cord and Raila Odinga from Gusii politics. But the more they sing the pro-government tune, the more they reveal that this 'project Nyachae dynasty' is government-funded and propelled.
Little wonder that President Uhuru and Deputy President William Ruto have directly anchored this song and visited Kisii and Nyamira counties to personally urge residents to ditch the opposition and work with the Jubilee government.
Keen observers have noted the loud absence of Simeon Nyachae from the frontline despite being the god father of key pushers of the project among them legislators Jimmy Ang’wenyi, Zebedeo Opore and Richard Tong’i. Former legislators include Henry Obwodha, Joseph Kiangoi, Prof Sam Ongeri, Omingo Magara and Walter Nyambati. Also playing key roles are political activists led by Richard Nyarangi and Misati Misati among others.
What is raising eyebrows in the region over this, however, is the fact that all those who matter in driving this agenda are in a way or another related to the Nyachae family. For good measure, this kind of blood relations and close intermarriages that strew political unity is the stuff that monarchies and dynasties are coined around.
But a relook at the history of this, while Nyachae's relatives served, even when he was a highly-placed and powerful civil servant, and also during his time as an influential Cabinet Minister in both Moi's and Kibaki's presidencies, reveals a group that thrived on control politics, and trading on the community’s support for personal favours in businesses and public jobs for their immediate relatives.
It is also recalled that the group operated like a political and economic cartel who hoisted one clan above all others in Kisii. None of the revival of the Nyachae control politics and even Nyachae himself can come forward to show any major development project they initiated for the people. They are mostly remembered for the politics of auctioning the community to those in power in exchange for individual benefits.
Critics also point out the primitive display of warlike activities by Mzee Nyachae when he publicly unleashed Amachuma warriors who attacked an ODM campaign team in 2007 that comprised of: William Ruto, Chris Obure, Omingo Magara and Chris Bichage amongst others, as the signature arrogance of this group that only serves to alienate the Gusii people from other Kenyans. Very undesirable.
It is yet to be seen how a grouping of politicians, who were resoundingly rejected by Abagusii voters in 2007 elections after squandering the almost total good will in 2002 elections, will spring a real comeback. It is even more unlikely given that the message from their crusades is exactly the one Mzee Nyachae and his disciples used to spin in elections before 2002, and it took a completely radical Nyachae, talking tough, anti-government and pro-Abagusii interests in that year to win the hearts of area voters.
Today the stage is pretty the same. The people have a lot of grievances against the Jubilee government. They lament of unfulfilled promises, which smell of betrayal. Besides, today’s Gusii voter is more informed and cannot be blackmailed by scarecrow political messages like the Nyachae group that: “Being in the government will spur development”. They know, like all other Kenyans, they are entitled to government services and development projects unconditionally.
In fact, when this group tells voters that they are not getting development projects because of supporting the opposition, the voters get more anti-government. Because this is a confirmation of being illegally discriminated against by the government functionaries for arm-twisting purposes. The consequence is a return to the 2007 and 2013 election time situations when the pro-government crusaders in Gusii land were resoundingly overrun by the opposition.
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