Election 2017: Kisumu man who sold land to campaign for Uhuru wants him to deliver on promises

Ex-convict Michael Ochieng',who sold his land to campaign for President Uhuru Kenyatta's re-election in Kisumu. PIC: COLLINS ODUOR

A Kisumu man who sold his land to campaign for President Uhuru Kenyatta has pledged to push the president-elect to deliver promises he has made to the people of Nyanza over the past five years.

Michael Ochieng' who sold two acres of land at Sh200,000 to campaign for Mr Uhuru in Kisumu said he was happy that he had played a role in getting the president re-elected.

He claims to have delivered for the president between 3,000 and 4,000 votes in Kisumu and at least 2,000 in Migori, meeting his target of at least 3,000 votes. President Uhuru garnered about 7,000 votes in Kisumu.

"When I started campaigning for him, I tried to reach him at the Jubilee House in Nairobi but my efforts were thwarted by operatives at that office. Now that I have fulfilled my pledge, I will fight to reach him so that I can congratulate him and let him know that I weathered a storm to deliver him a few votes," he said.

Mr Ochieng , an ex-condemned convict, attributed his freedom to interventions by the president and  believes he shored up more votes for Mr Uhuru than any other Jubilee candidate in the county after staging self-financed rallies.

"These other candidates were campaigning for themselves and the best only managed to score about 4,600 in the senatorial race; they could not have delivered the 7,000 votes," he said.

The former boxer said he bagged the votes from youths and women, whom he promised a bag of goodies should the president be re-elected.

"They are already celebrating and have asked me to start pushing for the promises I made to them," he said, "they included better access to funds for business startup and growth and job opportunities."

The promises made by the president in previous visits included revival of the collapsed Kisumu Cotton Mills, the ailing fisheries and sugar sectors and upgrading of key link roads and highways.

Mr Ochieng was on death row for 15 years at the Nakuru and Kamiti Maximum prisons before he successfully staged a retrial sold two acres of land for Sh100,000 apiece to finance his campaigns which comprised small-hall meetings and meet the people tours.

He is also optimistic of landing a lofty opportunity from the Jubilee Government and improving the lives of residents of the "opposition zone".

"I want to push him into fulfilling pledges made to the people of this region so that my pledges are seen as empty political rhetoric," he said.