The Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Southern Nyanza Diocese has a new bishop-elect.
Simon Onyango was elected on Saturday in a race that was almost scuttled by a court case, which was eventually withdrawn after a mutual agreement between the parties.
The 54-year-old cleric takes over from Bishop James Ochiel who opted for early retirement. Bishop Ochiel had 10 years to go before attaining the mandatory retirement age of 65 years.
Two petitioners — Rev George Kibogo and Salmon Owii — had moved to court in the earlier stages of the election and obtained orders stopping it.
They had argued that the process of getting the Search Committee, which interviews the candidates, was flawed but a middle ground was struck and the case was withdrawn leading to the committee settling on three candidates — Onyango, Canon Joshua Abulo and Phillip Omwaga.
In the first round of voting, Onyango garnered 11 votes out of 23 while his competitors got nine and two votes respectively. In the second round, he got 13 votes while Abulo had nine.
Closest challenger
Until his election, Onyango served as archdeacon of Migori Archdeaconry while his closest challenger Abulo was the Dean of the Cathedral in Homa Bay. His consecration and enthronement will be held on December 1 officiated by Archbishop Jackson ole Sapit.
He was trained at St John's School of Mission in Kokise, Siaya County and has worked in all the archdeaconries in the diocese. Onyango, who holds a master's degree in Counselling Psychology, also lectures at the Great Lakes University in Kisumu.
Rt Rev Ochiel was elected in 2002 after the retirement of Bishop Haggai Nyang' who was the first prelate after the diocese was carved out of Maseno South. In 2016, Kisii Area Bishopric was created from the diocese with Rt Rev John Omangi as the suffragan bishop.
A farewell service for Ochiel was held on October 13.
Onyango becomes the fourth bishop to be elected in ACK this year after Garissa, Maseno West and Mt Kenya South picked new bishops.
