Former South Mugirango Member of Parliament, Omingo Magara has shelved his governorship bid for Kisii County and will, instead, vie for the Senator’s seat.

The former lawmaker, who ditched United Democratic Alliance ( UDA) party for Jubilee, said he made the decision after he consulted his family, friends and supporters.

Omingo, who vied for the seat in 2013 and 2017 through Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) and lost to ODM’s Chris Obure and Prof. Sam Ongeri respectively said he has the experience to oversight the county government and will now vie through the Jubilee Party under the Azimio la Umoja Movement.

“I was a chairman of the Public Accounts Committee ( PAC) when I was a member of parliament and my work was to ensure that public funds are utilized well for its purposes, accounted for and benefit Kenyans,” Omingo told People Daily Digital on phone.   

He appealed to religious leaders to pray for voters to elect God-fearing leaders who will serve Kenyans selflessly and initiate development projects to benefit them, stressing that if they elect bad leaders, they will suffer.

“I urge church leaders to pray for peace and the election of good leaders as the country heads to the next general election. If Kenyans elect good leaders, the country will be safe,” Omingo said as he drummed up support for former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s presidential bid.

He will face Richard Atemba of Democratic Party ( DP), Okeng’o Nyambane ( UDA), Kitutu Chache South Member of Parliament Richard Onyonka (ODM) and Ken Omanga ( KANU) in the race.

Dagoretti North Member of Parliament, Simba Arati ( ODM) who is eying Kisii county governor’s seat has picked Onyonka as his Senator while Chris Obure and Ezekiel Machogu have earmarked former Bonchari MP Charles Onyancha and Kisii County Deputy Governor Joash Maangi respectively.

Obure is eying the governor’s seat through Jubilee party for the second time after he lost to ODM’s governor James Ongwae in 2017 while Machogu is making a stab at the seat for the first time through UDA). He was elected through National Agenda Party ( NAP) of Kenya in the last general election.

Meanwhile, Kenya National Congress (KNC) party leader Manson Nyamweya, who unveiled his running mate, Dr Alfred Ndemo, and Woman Representative, Julie Nyanchama on Friday said he wants a senator to be elected from other parties.

The former South Mugirango MP said it was wrong for the governor and the senator to be elected from the same party, stressing that once elected, it will be difficult for the Senator to oversight the governor and hold him or her accountable.

“If a governor funds a senator during campaigns and they are elected through the same party, the Senator is likely to be compromised in his work and it will affect Kenyans,” Nyamweya said at a Kisii hotel on Friday.

He appealed to Members of parliament to review the law so that governors and senators contest separately to enable the latter to do their work effectively in order to benefit Kenyans.

And, the party’s Secretary-General Ben Gisore said the party will give aspirants direct nominations to avoid expensive primaries, conflicts and fallout which will weaken the party.

Gisore noted that the aspirants will use the funds for nominations to conduct their campaigns, stressing experience has shown that once aspirants lose during nominations, they move to other parties or vie as independent candidates.