Bonchari elections take shape two months to the day

By DENNIS ONYANGO

Campaigns for the Bonchari by-election have taken shape as candidates prepare for the titanic battle between Jubilee and the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

Jubilee has already settled on Zebedeo Opore of Ford People to fly its flag as ODM faces the dilemma of fielding a single candidate in the mini-polls.

The National Alliance (TNA) Chairman and nominated MP Johnson Sakaja said the coalition is making plans to embark on serious campaigns to enable the ruling outfit recapture the seat.

“We plan to give him (Opore) total support and ensure that Jubilee retains the seat,” he said.

No other Jubilee affiliate party will field another candidate after the KANU candidate Oroo Oyioka defected to ODM.

ODM has however not settled on the candidate to back for the by-election two months away.

THREE CANDIDATES

When the top Orange party leadership visited the region on Tuesday, they said they would rely on the electorate to identify the most popular candidate for the seat.

Led by Executive Director Magerer Langat, the interim Secretary General Ababu Namwamba and Kisii County Senator Chris Obure, the leaders vowed not  to impose a candidate on the Bonchari  residents.

Oyioka’s recent move to join ODM has further thrown the party into a dilemma as his candidature brings the total number of those wishing to contest on the Orange party ticket to three.

Others include Charles Onyancha who was the ODM candidate in the 2013 General Election and former Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Kisii Branch Chairman Geoffrey Mogire.

Reports indicate that the party is split on whether to back Mogire who was the county’s ODM coordinator in the last General Election or support Oyioka who contested the seat on KANU ticket in the 2013 polls.