Kisii Senator Sam Ongeri has dismissed claims that supporters of Governor James Ongwae were behind the alleged poisoning of Kitutu Chache South MP Richard Onyonka during a rally in Nyaribari Masaba constituency last Thursday.

Responding to accusations by Dagoretti MP Simba Arati, Ongeri told politicians to stop spreading unproved information.

Arati and Ongeri are locked in a fierce battle to replace Ongwae in next year’s elections.

“It is wrong for leaders who were enjoying themselves somewhere to link Ongwae’s supporters to the alleged poisoning of Onyonka. I urge leaders to speak the truth as they solicit for votes,” Ongeri said.

Music festival

The Senator, who was accompanied by Governor Ongwae, was speaking at Kisii PAG church during a regional music festival themed “Happy Unifying Day for Omogusii” on Saturday at the church.

But Ongwae avoided the matter, but instead urged residents of the county to support former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s presidential bid, saying the ODM leader had fought for the country’s democracy and therefore, deserves to be the fifth president.

“You know my political stance and direction. We want the Nyanza region to produce the next resident of this country,” Ongwae told the worshippers.

In a statement to the press on Saturday, Arati said he had suspended political activities in the county after the alleged poisoning of Onyonka.

Arati, an ODM lawmaker, said a stranger passed a bottle of water to Onyonka who drank it but spit it out because it tasted strange. The MP, Arati said, then started vomiting as blood oozed from his mouth, adding that he was rushed to Oasis Private Hospital where doctors said he had not swallowed the substance.

“An examination on his mouth showed an erosion and ulceration of his mouth’s lining. Doctors warned the substance would have been fatal if it had found its way into the stomach lining of Onyonka,” Arati said in a statement sent to the press yesterday.

He said doctors were not ruling out poisoning even as he assured his supporters and friends that doctors had assured that the MP was out of danger and was recuperating at home.

The MP said the person who gave Onyonka the water was being sought by authorities and appealed to members of the public who attended the public rally to volunteer information to the police that can lead to the arrest of the suspect.

“My office is working round the clock with the help of relevant authorities to bring into question those behind what now appears to be an attempt on the life of Onyonka,” Arati said in the statement.

At the same time, leaders from Nyanza and Western region’s, who met in Kisumu County on Saturday, appealed to voters to set aside their differences and support Raila’s presidential bid.

Kisii Deputy Governor Joash Maangi declared that he had dropped his opposition of the ODM leader and was now back in familiar political territory.

“I soul searched and decided to jet back home than be a lone ranger in the political hunting field, while everyone else is milling around Baba,’’ said Maangi.

For the past three years, the Deputy Governor who was elected with Ongwae on an ODM ticket, has been leaning towards Deputy President William Ruto’s camp.

“I was hunting and as you know hunting forces a person to endure, to master themselves, even to truly get to know the environment. Actually, along the way, hunting and fishing make you fall in love with the natural world. I have returned to Baba camp with love,’’ he said.

Maangi was speaking during the Nyanza chapter launch of East African Legislative Assembly’s member Oburu Oginga’s autobiography “In the Shadow of My Father” in Kisumu on Saturday night.