Kuria leaders eye Migori County top seat, say no to pre-poll deal

Politicians and opinion leaders from the Kuria community have rubbished claims that they will be politically doomed if they do not reach a seats sharing deal with their Luo neighbours.

There are political undertones in Migori County that the Luo are not keen to negotiate a pre-election pact with the Kuria who allegedly betrayed them in 2013.

During the 2012-13 electioneering period, the Kuria community formed a select committee that reached a negotiated democracy deal with their populous neighbours, which consequently handed the former the senate, deputy governor and woman representative seats.

Part of the agreement, according to Matiko Bohoko, the select committee secretary, was that the Kuria would vote for CORD leader Raila Odinga as a block.  But Raila shared the Kuria vote nearly equally with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“We may not be interested in negotiatiating with political parties for positions in the county. Talks will be centred on individuals, especially on the governor’s position,” he said.

Samuel Robi, an elder from Kegonga, Kuria East, said the community got a raw deal in the 2013 agreement.

“What they do not know is that we only negotiated for one seat, the senate. The women representative Denitah Ghati campaigned and won squarely, as for the Deputy Governor, the incumbent was smart enough to go for a Kuria running mate and was able to win,” Robi said.

Mathews Chacha, the Bukuria East ward representative, said the community is seriously thinking about fronting its own candidates.

“Our numbers are impressive, as we speak we have over 100,000 registered voters in Kuria and that has seriously got us into thinking of fronting a gubernatorial aspirant,” he said.