'Avocado' Man wins race for MCA seat

 

David Soi with some of his 12 children. The father of nine boys and three girls won the Chemosot ward seat as an independent candidate. [Nikko Tanui, Standard]

Ordinarily, chances of a man known for doing odd jobs winning a ward representative seat as an independent candidate in a Jubilee Party zone are almost zero.

However, residents of Chemosot ward in Bureti constituency decided in last week’s General Election that he was the right man to represent them for the next five years.

David Soi, 45, garnered 6,098 votes to snatch the seat from the incumbent and closest challenger, Philip Koskei (Jubilee), who got 4,260 votes.

When The Standard visited Mr Soi in Chesingoro village on the Kericho-Litein road, his supporters were flocking to his timber house, which has no electricity or piped water, to congratulate him on his victory.

“I am thankful to Chemosot residents who believed in my leadership qualities. I must also say my win is a miracle from God,” said Mr Soi, a staunch member of the African Inland Church.

Avocado trees

Before the elections, Soi, who is popularly known as “Avocado” because his compound is full of avocado trees, did odds jobs in the village, including being a casual labourer at Litein Tea Factory and a photographer.

As a local social activist, Soi is credited with pressuring the Bureti MP to set aside funds from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) to buy an acre of land for the construction of Chesingoro Primary School.

The first sign that Soi, a father of 12, was on his way to clinching the Chemosot ward seat came last month, during the high-profile funeral of former powerful Nyanza Provincial Commissioner Isaiah Cheluget.

Soi stole the show when he stood up and marched to view Cheluget’s body as the huge crowd of mourners repeatedly chanted “Avocado!”

“It was not lost on the residents that I had won the Jubilee Party primaries but it was unfortunate that I was denied the party ticket, leaving me with no option but to seek election as an independent candidate,” he said.

Last week’s election was Soi’s second attempt at winning a political postion.

In 2013, he took a gamble and sold half an acre of his land for Sh750,000, which he used to campaign. But he lost in the elections.

Soi says he considers each of his children a blessing from God.

Sleep easy

“God has blessed me with children, and now He has blessed me even more with the MCA seat. I can now sleep easy because I can afford to take them to better schools and provide other basic needs.”

He lists his priorities as the provision of clean water for area residents and fair distribution of bursary funds from the county government.

Bureti residents also wrote history by electing Nancy Kimetto of Tebesonic ward; she now holds the distinction of being the only female ward representative in the county.

Ms Kimetto (Jubilee), an accounting and finance masters graduate from Kenyatta University, garnered 4,545 votes to beat the incumbent, Brancolin Rono, who was defending his seat as an independent candidate and who managed 1,409 votes.

The mother of five from Chasamisiet village said she would focus on roads, water provision and equitable sharing of bursaries and other resources.

“Public funds must be channelled to the right purpose,” she said.