Jared Kwaga joins race to unseat Uriri MP

Businessman Jared Kwaga, addressing members of the public during the launch his campaigns for the Uriri parliamentary seat on March 4, 2022. [Caleb Kingwara, Standard]

The race for the Uriri parliamentary seat heightened yesterday when businessman Jared Kwaga launched his bid to unseat MP Mark Nyamwita.

Kwaga who was crowned as an elder yesterday and handed a spear and shield said he will contest the seat on an ODM ticket under the Azimio la Umoja umbrella.

Hundreds of people attended the launch at Uriri stadium as they sung and danced to tunes by ohangla musician, Prince Indah.

Kwaga said he had decided to join politics and seek the seat to help address problems facing locals and that we was confident of winning in the August 9 polls.

While outlining his manifesto for the constituents, he noted that he will not focus on what his predecessors have done.

"Uriri constituency has a history of MPs serving for only one term and the ground has indicated it requires change through Kwaga to be MP,” Kwaga said.

He believes he is a strong candidate and a talk of Uriri.

Kwaga likened the constituents who gathered at his launch at District Commissioner (DC) grounds in Uriri Centre, Migori County, as soldiers who have come out to defend their dignity.

"We are in this journey for a reason. We all know-how leadership in this position have transited with everyone taking one term," he said.

Kwaga noted that his campaigns will be the vehicle of the hopes and dreams of the constituents.

He vowed that through his leadership, their sense of purpose would be restored.

"We must be on the table and not under the table. Everyone will rejoice in my leadership," he said, adding that he will never let his constituents down.

While in the company of his wife Christine Kwaga who backed his bid and released him to the constituents, Kwaga highlighted education, youth, women and empowerment of persons living with disabilities through Saccos and improved infrastructure as some of the development pillars he would focus on.

He described the group as friends that he would keep close.

Furthermore, he noted that he would give priority to churches, strengthen NHIF and assist poor families to access medical services, engage funding institutions to bolster programs for borrowers, and ensure availability of clean piped water in homesteads.

He promised to be the patron of all-women groups in the constituency.

"Let us be the generation that fights poverty through value addition and respect culture and race," Kwaga said.

Other aspirants who want to unseat Nyamita include John Kobado and Evans Ogutu who is yet to officially declare his bid.