Meet Uasin Gishu’s ‘Sonko’

By Peter Ochieng’

 A mention of the word sonko will most probably conjure pictures of the restless Nairobi Senator Gideon Mbuvi. But not so in Uasin Gishu County.

 This agriculturally rich region known for its international athletes has its own Sonko- the Kapseret MP Oscar Kipchumba Sudi.

 Mr Sudi, one of the emerging youthful power brokers in the North Rift was nick named Sonko - a sheng version for a rich man, during the March 4 election campaigns.

 He is among Deputy President William Ruto’s closest allies in the North Rift. His constituency was carved from the larger Eldoret South where he helped two former area MPs, David Koros and Peris Siman, win elections.

 But what is interesting about Mr Sudi is that while the two former MPs he served as chief campaigners lost the elections, he graduated from a political adviser to an MP with ease.

The 32 year old Sudi of Ruto’s URP   was Koros’s chief strategist in 2002 and later helped Ms Simam to oust him in 2007.

 This year, both former MPs lost the elections. Koros lost in URP nominations and quickly defected to Musalia Mudavadi’s UDF but again lost to URP’s James Bett while Simam threw in the towel after failing to go past the nomination stage.

 In an interview with the County Weekly, Mr Sudi said the former MPs failed because they did not heed his political advice.

“I told them to honour their campaign promises but they did not. This made them fall out with the voters,” he said.

Sudi is among young politicians who aggressively campaigned for Jubilee.