Onchari Oyieyo, referred to fondly as “Ben” by family, was only four years old when his mother died. His father had died earlier before he was born. Completely orphaned and totally clueless about the world, he, together with his other siblings moved to their paternal uncle’s place briefly before moving back to their home under the care of elder brother Philip. It is Philip who sacrificed and paid when he would the small amounts of money needed as school fees for the skinny and malnourished Onchari who trekked to the neighbouring Raganga Primary School, barefoot, until he finished class 8.
With the world around him totally collapsed, the only saving grace was the excellent brain God had blessed him with, enabling him to set record after record until he cleared primary school. Mr. John Ombui, his Science teacher in class 6, had nicknamed him “Computer,” due to his ability to process complex problems at high speed.
Secondary School
Onchari Oyieyo is one of the many lucky Kenyans who count themselves as Old Boys of Cardinal Otunga High School-Mosocho, arguably the most prestigious and well-known high schools in both Kisii and Nyamira Counties, a school that was once nationally revered because of its stellar performance. He cleared from the school in 2001 with a University-qualifying grade that took him to the University of Nairobi’s Chiromo Campus. He later got a meritorious full scholarship to study at the Prestigious Principia College in Illinois, USA.
Onchari Oyieyo was a key precinct leader in Illinois in former US President Barack Obama’s 2012 reelection effort. He was dispatched to Kenya by the Kenyans in Texas to come and lead Mike Sonko’s Nairobi gubernatorial election effort after Sonko’s appeal was clear to them. His deliverables included making sure that Sonko won as governor and got him ready to take over as president after Uhuru. He got Sonko elected but then things did not go as planned for the presidential part as Sonko got impeached through an overzealous and overbearing executive branch of the national government.
He served as Governor Sonko’s Senior Political Advisor, the youngest political advisor to a governor in the entire country’s 47 counties.
Besides that, Onchari Oyieyo is a respected Political Analyst and Foreign Policy Expert who’s opinions are much sought after by the country’s mainstream media. The common saying among the media fraternity is that “If Onchari has not said, then it has no weight.”
A quick survey on the ground in Kitutu Chache South Constituency shows that Onchari is a candidate, not because he wants to be a member of parliament, but because his constituents want him to help them solve problems they have struggled with for decades. Schools, roads, and hospitals in Bogusero Ward where he comes from are in need of repair. Coincidentally, Bogusero is the largest of the constituency’s five wards if you exclude Central Ward that includes Kisii township.
Politically speaking, if he manages to carry his own Bogusero Ward and get some votes from Central Ward, he will have won the race. There is tremendous goodwill on the ground associated with the excellent legacy left by Mzee Bernard Oyieyo, his late father, a teacher who planted trees in nearly the entire ward’s primary schools. Those trees, now over 30 years old, are being felled and used to build new classes in these schools. There is also an emotional element to the manner in which members of his ward talk about him arguing how they have always voted for outsiders who end up giving them a raw deal. They believe that it is now their time to produce the constituency’s MP, and Onchari is their candidate. “We do not want him to give us even a coin. We want to elect him so that he can work for us,” Mzee Maroko said. These same views were echoed by Mzee Mososi, a clan elder, and Mrs. Mary Mong’are who leads a group of powerful women leaders from the constituency.
The youth within the constituency are his greatest strength. Most of them have formed WhatsApp groups where they are sensitizing one another on what it means to have him elected as their next member of parliament.
When reached for comment, Onchari Oyieyo was thankful that the very people who took care of him have decided to initiate and lead the effort to send him to the people’s house to represent them. “The wheels of fate placed me on the hands of the people of Bogusero. They literally took care of me when my parents died when I was only three years,” he told us. He went ahead to state that if elected, he will serve for only five years because that is the time he will require for modernizing the constituency’s roads, hospitals, and schools. “The demon of excuses will not be accommodated during my time. The people’s business must be done without fail,” he added.
Onchari Oyieyo addressing the media on behalf of Governor Sonko after the Dusit D2 terror attack.
When asked whether he can win, he told me that he is a strong believer in God. He went ahead to state that he has never lost an election starting from his campus days when he contested for various positions in the then University of Nairobi students organization referred to as SONU.
Kitutu Chache South Constituency had a total of 59,017 registered voters as of 2017. Onchari’s Bogusero Ward had 10, 951 voters which is nearly equal to Nyakoe Ward’s 10, 939. Kisii Central Ward had the lion’s share with a whopping 21, 942. Bogeka Ward and Nyatieko Ward are at the tail-end with 6, 865 and 8, 320 voters respectively.
Central Ward is cosmopolitan with nearly all tribes calling the area home, and Luos and Luhyas constitute a majority of voters, meaning that any candidate who flies the Orange Democratic Movement flag will reap most of these votes. Luos are also part of the Bogusero voter bloc as they reside in the Matieko and Eroga (Ruga) area that borders Mosocho and Matieko.
By Paul Angalwa
Tel: 0794741981
Email: pangalwa007@gmail.com