Deputy Chief of Staff Eliud Owalo has reprimanded a section of Nyanza leaders engaged in supremacy battles, eyeing the kingpin title for the region.

Speaking on Saturday, December 13, 2025, Owalo called out a section of the leaders for misleading the region into supremacy politics instead of advocating for economic empowerment.

Owalo argued that the said leaders were only pushing their vested interests, yet the region requires proper investment to uplift the livelihoods of the residents.

“We really need to have some focus as a people. We do not want negative, retrogressive, parochial and ego-centric interests in the name of a political kingpin,” Owalo stated.

“Kingpin for what, if the people are suffering and are not getting tangible economic benefits, why do you want to lead people who are impoverished?” he posed.

Refocus

Eliud Owalo called on the leaders from the region to put their differences aside and forge a united path aimed at driving meaningful development.

He warned that supremacy battles and the politics of a kingpin would not benefit the region.

“Our focus must change to the politics of economy, not the selfish politics of a political kingpin; that will not take us anywhere,” Owalo retorted.

Wanga vs Raymond Omollo

Owalo’s sentiments came against a backdrop of a simmering fallout between Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga and Raymond Omollo, the Principal Secretary (PS) for the State Department for Internal Security and National Administration.

The conflict between Wanga and PS Omollo began during the Kasipul Constituency by-election, where Governor Gladys Wanga accused Raymond Omollo of backing independent candidate Philip Aroko against ODM’s Boyd Were.

However, PS Raymond Omollo dismissed Wanga’s remarks, accusing her of going after those who do not share the same political views.

“You want to abuse and disrespect leaders who are trying to ensure the people are given the needs they ask for. When the president is building schools and hospitals in the area, you come and shake his hand and smile about the projects. When the country is silent, you go behind his back and mobilise people to come up with issues that aim to disrupt the government and its projects,” Omollo stated.

Despite their fallout, a section of the leaders from the region have insisted that no one can take the kingpin title, which the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga held.