Akech Chieng’: Man who struck fear in ministers

By Nicholas Anyuor

The name Elisha Akech Chieng’ may not ring a bell to the current politicians but those who served under former President Moi will tell you he was a powerful politician who built and destroyed many political careers in South Nyanza.

Despite serving as a civic leader at the time, Chieng’ as he preferred to be called, wielded more power and political influence than Cabinet ministers from Luo Nyanza.

Elisha Akech Chieng’ at his home in Homa Bay

He enjoyed the trappings of power from two former powerful presidents — in Kenya and Uganda.

"He was President Moi’s trusted ear on the ground, and only the bravest dared challenge his authority," says Mr Charles Omondi Owuor, a former civil servant at South Nyanza County Council.

Despite his low level of education, he would be among Moi’s entourage on many foreign visits and even had a chance of meeting Queen Elizabeth II and former US President George Bush.

He was always close to the President, playing the role of a court jester at functions attended by the Head of State.

To illustrate the power he wielded, the humorous grassroots politician was appointed by Moi to serve on the all powerful and dreaded Kanu disciplinary committee, which ended many political careers in the 1980s.

Disciplinary committee

Among those who served on the disciplinary committee were Okiki Amayo (chairman) and Burudi Nabwera (secretary).

Committee members remember Chieng’ taking a tough position that led to the expulsion of Prof Ouma Muga from the party.

Muga was expelled for his alleged relationship with formerVice-President Josephat Karanja, who was demoted by Moi.

According to a member who served on the committee, it was during the disciplinary proceedings that Chieng’ asked Muga what relationship he had with Dr Karanja.

"Councillor Chieng’, when Dr Karanja was approaching university from the South, I was approaching the same university from the West," Prof Muga is reported to have retorted.

Those comments resulted in his ejection from the proceedings and his immediate expulsion from the only party that legally existed in the country at the time.

Many other politicians who crossed his path can attest to the kind of power the man who served at the then Homa Bay-based South Nyanza County Council wielded.

Chieng’ is today a crest fallen man, who blames powerful politicians for using and dumping him.

"They used me and dumped me. My property worth millions of shillings was looted and the rest torched by my political enemies in South Nyanza during the 1992 multi-party election campaigns," he explains.

In the 1992 General Election, Luo Nyanza was then in opposition party Ford-Kenya when he tried his luck for the Ndhiwa parliamentary seat.

"A mob of Ford-Kenya supporters burned my property and left me a poor man but what pains me is that I received no support from Kanu leaders to help me recover," he regrets.

He claims the top Kanu leadership assured him protection before he contested the Ndhiwa parliamentary seat on the party’s ticket.

He lost to Tom Obondo and his life took a downward trend afterwards.

"The people thought I was against Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and so they turned against me. My lorries were torched, sugar depots looted, and Land Rover thrown into River Migori. Kanu never helped me even though I was protecting its political interests in the region. Everybody was against me and I had nowhere to go to," he says.

Last week, The Standard on Sunday found him at his three-bedroom house, which he shares with one of his three wives and more than 10 children in Homa Bay town.

He does not have any traits of the former prominent politician who dined and wined with world leaders.

He was sipping tea, with a small transistor radio next to him as he listened to a vernacular radio station airing a discussion on the draft constitution.

Meeting dignitaries

Looking surprised, as he was not expecting a visitor, he accepted to grant an interview.

He occasionally stopped the interview to confirm what had been recorded in the notebook.

Born in Kanyamwa, Ndhiwa District, in 1940, Chieng’ admits he could never have imagined dining with world dignitaries.

"I was in most of Moi’s visits to America, Britain, Singapore, Middle-East and many other countries in Africa," he says.

He has fond memories for the former President.

"Moi was a generous leader who recognised one’s political ability regardless of one’s academic achievement," he asserts.

Described as a man whose voice permeates hills of Kanyamwa and reaches Migingo Island through the hills of Suba District, the man with a baritone voice joined primary school in Langi in 1949 and later joined Mori Intermediate School in the current Uriri District where he sat his Kenya African Preliminary Examination in 1957.

He then took two years at home before joining Mkono Institute of Technology in Uganda for his grade II mechanics course.

He political journey commenced while in Uganda as a Kenyan youth leader after he was recruited as a mechanic and motor vehicle foreman by the Entebbe Municipal Council in Uganda in 1961.

"As a young leader, I had the power to convince many Kenyan youths to join politics because I realised I had power to mobilise," he says.

Former Ugandan President Milton Obote got close to him because he wanted Kenyan support to protect his regional political interest, he explains.

Being a mobiliser, Chieng’ was elected chairman of the Ugandan Local Government Workers Union.

"Obote became a personal friend and we worked closely," he explains.

Councillor Chieng’ fled Uganda after Obote’s government was overthrown by Idi Amin on January 25, 1971.