On August 26 this year, Migori County governor Okoth Obado together with two of his children were arrested by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) stationed at Kisii County. They were later charged with various corruption charges and released on bail. Without wasting time, the Migori County MCAs moved quickly with a motion to impeach the governor for misuse of county funds and being involved in corruption scandals.
Now it has emerged that the former prime Minister Mr. Raila Odinga was involved behind the scenes to see governor Obado toppled from office by the County Assembly officials. Mr. Odinga had instructed Gwassi Constituency MP John Ng’ong’o Mbadi to ensure that governor Obado is successfully impeached from office. Mr. Mbadi is one of the power brokers as he hails from the Orange Democratic Movement Party in which Mr. Odinga is the party leader.
Mr. Mbadi and Mr. Odinga were able to convince at least 31 Migori County MCAs to participate in the removal of governor Obado from office. It is widely believed that Mr. Obado was pigeon-holed by the ODM party cartels because he was seen as a keen supporter of the deputy president William Ruto and his Tangatanga bandwagon.
This is not surprising because after the Handshake, Mr. Raila Odinga and most of the ODM Party politicians effectively joined the Kieleweke team under the leadership of president Uhuru Kenyatta.
Despite deputy president and the president being in the Jubilee party, the two top politicians in the country do not get along with each other as they have competing political interests, especially with regards to the Building Bridges Initiative, the referendum and efforts to change the constitution so that Uhuru Kenyatta can still remain as the head of state after his two terms maximum expires in 2022.
Then it follows that ODM Party politicians will see as fair game to go after any politician who is allied to Mr. Ruto and the Tangatanga team as the Deputy President has been ostracized from the Jubilee Party he helped form in 2012 when his URP merged with Mr. Kenyatta’s TNA party.
Surprisingly, governor Obado survived the impeachment attempt at the hands of the Migori County MCAs. How did that happen? Well, the county boss got saved by unlikely “agents” within Raila Odinga’s most trusted inner circles: Raila Odinga’s own family. This comprised of Mr. Odinga’s wife Ida Odinga and brother Oburu Odinga.
It has been revealed that Governor Obado was saved from impeachment due to the intervention of Ida Odinga and Mr. Oburu Odinga.
“He (Obado) sought help from Mama Ida, who intervened with Dr Oginga last week even as party stalwarts kept piling pressure on the MCAs to proceed with the impeachment plan. He has yet again survived because the motion has been stopped,” said the source.
Since the efforts to impeach the governor has been shelved by the MCA, governor Okoth Obado was invited to speak at Raila Odinga’s home in Bondo last Saturday when the ODM Party Leader was crowned a Kikuyu Elder by a throng of Central Region delegates.
In his speech, Mr. Obado heaped praise at the Odinga family and asked to be involved in the delegates from Nyanza region who have been invited to Central region later this year to participate in various political exercises meant to sensitize the region about the upcoming Building Bridges Initiative campaigns.
Last month, Chief Magistrate Lawrence Mugambi of the Milimani Anti-corruption Court freed Mr. Obado on KSh 8.7 million cash bail or an alternative Sh20 million bond and prohibited him from travelling outside the country.
After his release, governor Obado was barred from accessing his Migori County office pending the determination of his corruption case which is before the courts. In the mean time, Migori County Deputy Governor Mr. Nelson Mahanga Mwita has taken over key functions of the county to avoid a power vaccum and to ensure essential services are availed to the people of Migori County.
