Two governor aspirants, supporters clash at funeral
By Evans Nyakundi, October 6, 2020
A burial ceremony in Kitutu Masaba constituency, Nyamira county on Sunday nearly turned chaotic when two aspirants interested in the governorship post and their supporters clashed.
The supporters of the two aspirants collided over who should succeed governor John Nyagarama when he retires in 2022.
Former area MPs Mwancha Okioma and Walter Nyambati tore into each other’s past development record when they both represented the constituency.
Tempers flared up as each politician’s shouted down their opponent while praising their leader the loudest saying he was the best placed to take over from Nyagarama putting the master of ceremony in an awkward position .
Trouble started when a parliamentary aspirant Hillary Abuya told Okioma to his face to step down in favour of Nyambati arguing that he had more votes than him, thus attracting the wrath of the latter’s supporters as leaders present at the funeral watched in disbelief.
Okioma’s supporter were enraged with his sentiments accusing him of being hired by Nyambati to undermine the former who they termed as a formidable candidate.
“I want to tell the people of Kitutu Masaba that Nyambati came and consulted me about his candidature for the seat of the governor and after making all assessments, I realised he was the best person to carry the political mantle from Kitutu Masaba,” he told the mourners at Tinga village during the burial of Milka Makori.
When Okioma stood up to speak, he rebuked Abuya accusing him of being used by Nyambati to undermine his gubernatorial bid but stated that such evil moves could not scare him.
Nyambati on his part called for political tolerance and assured voters that he and Okioma could at the right time sit together and agree who should be supported for the top county seat.
“Even if it means we lock ourselves in a room for days so that we can give one choice, we are going to do that and be assured that Kitutu Mababa could only field one candidate who could either be me or Okioma,” he told the mourners.