Shitanda fought for cane farmers and unity of west Kenya leaders

Former Housing Minister Soita Shitanda is best remembered as a champion of sugarcane farmers’ interests and the forging of the elusive unity of the Luhya community.

The former Malava MP won the hearts of voters in the constituency because of his fearless crusade against the exploitation of sugarcane farmers in what is today the Kakamega North Sub-County.

Mr Shitanda played a key role in identifying an investor to set up Butali Sugar Mills, the region’s second sugar factory.

He also helped to initiate several projects in his home area, including the Malava Sub-County Hospital, the construction of bridges and classrooms in various schools.

Mzee Peter Muruga, a former director of the West Kenya Outgrowers Company, said Mr Shitanda had set a development record that the new generation of leaders will find difficult to match.

“He did a lot for the people of Malava and it’s so sad that he has gone,” said Mr Muringa, who hails from Bukhakunga Village in South Kabras.

Mr Shitanda made local history by becoming the first MP to be re-elected three times.

As a politician, he was always ready to work with leaders from across the political divide and, as a rule, spoke his mind without fear.

The politician was a close ally of Deputy President William Ruto.

He also worked closely with the Amani National Congress party leader Musalia Mudavadi, Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang’ula, former Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo and Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, all of whom are cut from different political cloths.

Mr Shitanda died on Tuesday, at the Nairobi Hospital where he had been receiving treatment for three weeks. He was 57.

Sadly, his death came only three days after the burial of his elder brother, Mr Walucho Shitanda, at their Butali home in Malava constituency.

The former minister was conspicuously absent during the funeral because he was indisposed.

QUEST FOR LUHYA UNITY

After joining politics in 1997, he campaigned vigorously for leaders from western Kenya to unite in the quest to fulfil the dream of the region producing a president.

However, endless bickering among the politicians dampened his crusade.

He once said that while western Kenya was dithering over who to support in the presidential race, Nyanza had thrown its weight behind Mr Raila Odinga, while Rift Valley supported Mr Ruto, now the Deputy President.

Only three months ago, he surprised many when he announced in February that he would vie for the Malava parliamentary seat on a Jubilee ticket in 2017.

From that point, endless delegations of supporters went to his rural home at Butali market to meet him despite his poor health.

As a politician, Mr Shitanda was easily accessible to his supporters even after he unsuccessfully ran for Governor of Kakamega County in 2013.

Thereafter, he was often to be found at the local Total Petrol Station, where he met friends for a drink before his health deteriorated, culminating in his death on Tuesday.

A sombre mood engulfed Butali market, his rural home, after news of his death was broken.

Governor Wycliffe Oparanya and his deputy, Prof Philip Kutima, visited Mr Shitanda’s family and joined mourners had who had gathered for prayers.

Speaking yesterday at the former minister’s Runda home in Nairobi, his brother, Mr Ngaira Shitanda, said preparations for the burial were underway.

“We will start having committee meetings chaired by both Mr Jirongo and (Water and Irrigation Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa,” said Mr Ngaira.

On Wednesday, the funeral committee chairman, Cyrus Jirongo, announced that the former minister would be buried on on June 4.