Kisumu senator decries degree of corruption, promises change

Kisumu Senator Anyang’ Nyong’o has vowed to make sure that corrupt county officials are jailed if he is elected governor.

Prof Nyong’o, who was speaking at different stopovers during his meet-the-people tour in Kisumu Central constituency to drum up support for his bid, lamented that the county is reeling in corruption at the expense of development.

“Those misusing public funds through corruption will be jailed,” Prof Nyong’o told an enthusiastic crowd at Jua Kali in Kisumu town.

He was accompanied by Nyando MP Fred Outa who is eying the senate seat, and a host of parliamentary and MCA aspirants.

But the Jack Ranguma government, in a rejoinder, accused the leader of empty rhetoric.

Mr Ranguma had in the past claimed that Prof Nyong’o did not do much when he was a cabinet secretary and Kisumu Rural, now Seme, MP.

“He has nothing to show despite holding very senior positions in the government and must be shunned from county leadership,” the governor said in Seme.

Other areas where the governor hopeful addressed public gatherings are Aga Khan, Kamas, Kapedo and Obunga, all within Kisumu Central.

Senator Nyong'o said Governor Ranguma has failed at his job and should not be re-elected in the August polls.

He also told him off for planning to eject boda boda operators and small scale traders from the town.

"What I will do is to eject the Kachok dumpsite, which has become an eyesore. We want a better environment. Those in county leadership have done nothing....I am not a mad man to interfere with such an industrious group (boda boda opeators," he said.

RAILA FOR PRESIDENT

Other key areas he said he will address include the hyacinth menace in Lake Victoria and the fish business.

Similarly, Nyando MP Fred Outa said Mr Ranguma must account for how money disbursed by the national government has been spent.

“We want him to tell us how he has spent the huge allocation instead of clinging on the grand coalition government projects, whose policies were formulated by Prof Nyong’o,” he said.

Mr Outa added that a Raila Odinga presidency will be corrupt-free, and said that President Uhuru Kenyatta has failed to fulfill all his pledges; thus the Jubilee administration should not be given another chance.

Central Gem MCA Fred Ouda said he should be the next Kisumu Central MP, not Ken Obura, whom he said has not uplifted the lives of his constituents.