Migori aspirants spare deputy’s slot for minority Kuria community

The race to bag the key votes of the minority Kuria is in top gear.

The community, which has two constituencies - Kuria East and Kuria West, with more than 90,000 voters - will be key in deciding who wins the tight race for governor.

The community has four clans - Bairegi and Banyabasi in Kuria East and the Bagumbe and Bakira in Kuria West.

The Banyabasi and Bakira are the larger clans and usually vote as a bloc as they are culturally closer and perform rites such as circumcision for both sexes in the same season. The the other two, the Bairegi and Bagumbe, are inclined to vote together.

According to Matiko Bohoko, a Kuria elder, the Bakira clan has a population of over 120,000 and is traditionally and culturally identified with the symbol of an elephant. The Banyabasi are identified by the symbol of a zebra. The Bagumbe and Bairegi both identify themselves with the leopard symbol, with one clan bearing the symbol of a female leopard and the other a male one.

Voting patterns

The Bairegi and the Bagumbe identify themselves as carnivorous and tend to cooperate, even in voting patterns. The zebra and elephant clans identify themselves as herbivorous. This classification has often informed the clan wars that have in the recent past disrupted the community.

Last week, the incumbent governor, Okoth Obado, was cleared to defend his seat. He retained his deputy, Mwita Mahanga, who hails from the Bairege clan, as his running mate. His attempts to pick a new candidate from other clans failed.

Bairege is the smallest of the four clans and is touted as ‘unpopular’.

A source who did not want to be named because he is not authorised to speak for the governor, claimed that Mr Obado had tried to get a different running mate, one Rebecca Maroa, the director for gender in the county government.

Mahanga, a banker, has a master’s degree in economics and accounting and was the vice chairman of the infamous negotiated democracy between his community and the Luo in Migori.

Obado’s closest rival, former Cabinet Minister Ochilo Ayacko, picked Lucas Mosenda from the Bakira clan in Kuria West constituency. Bakira is the largest of the clans.

However, Mr Mosenda is not a household name in Kuria and is perceived as a weak candidate. Pundits argue that the fact that he comes from the largest clan is no guarantee that he will bring many votes to Mr Ayacko’s basket.

Mosenda is an entrepreneur and has worked in the NGO world, with his latest stint being as programmes manager at Oxfam. In his own words, “it is this experience in community development that I bring in team Ayacko.”

Obado’s village mate from Rapogi Uriri constituency, Samson Owuor, who was cleared as an independent candidate, has picked Tyson Kemege, who vied for Kuria East and came second in the ODM primaries, as his running mate. Mr Kemege hails from the same clan as Mahanga; Bairege.

Kemege is an impeccable orator and one of the opinion leaders in Kuria East and an ODM leader in his constituency.

Jack Okoth of Amani National Congress and former chief executive officer of Kenya Rugby Union, has picked Ken Muhocho from the Bakira clan as his running mate. Mr Muhocho is a former chief operating officer at the Kenya Association of Manufacturers.

The Kuria community has a governor candidate on a Jubilee Party ticket - political scientist Chrispinus Weiria from the Banyabasi clan, who has picked businessman Simon Wambura from the Bakira clan as his running mate.

Governor candidate

Tobias Range, a former Kehancha town mayor, said Obado has a large following among the Kuria because he picked a deputy governor from there in 2013.

“In Kuria, like the wider Migori County, the governor position is a two-horse race for the Kuria votes between Obado and Ayacko, who is quickly gaining ground. Obado enjoys support from the Abairege and Abagumbe clans, but the rest are leaning towards Ayacko,” Mr Range said.