CHARLES NYACHAE'S POWER DESIGNS RESISTED AT HOME

A big debate has erupted in Kisii county over the imposed entry of Charles Nyachae into area politics with a view to reinventing his father control of Abagusii politics in the one and half decade since 1992.

Though his entry, propelled by the Jubilee government and his retired father  has stirred interest in the Abagusii twin counties of Kisii and Nyamira and  all the way to the diaspora, it is in Kisii county that “Project Charles Nyachae” is beginning to attract big resentment with many unwilling to accept his brand of leadership.

Investigations on the ground reveal growing fear amongst locals that those fronting the CIC chairman see in him a mere puppet to be used in the future to bulldoze their ethnic agenda for rubberstamping by the community and not a true leader to pursue genuine local interests.

Others who talked to the press on condition of anonymity have stated categorically that the grey haired lawyer is a non-performer who cannot be entrusted with the heavy responsibility of leading the community to higher political and economic achievements.

They point out that the constitutional implementation hiccups currently causing political tensions in the country leading to the Okoa Kenya have been caused directly by his inability as CIC chairman as the commission was to anchor the implementation of the new constitution and to ensure adherence to the requirements of the law.

Instead, immediately he entered office, he conspired with one side of the political divide to neutralise the commission to allow his political godfathers the leeway to mutilate and undermine the new constitution to their advantage.

The Kisii locals cite the massive failure to execute the mandate of the CIC as the biggest betrayal to the country for which he should be barred from holding any public office. They also point out that such glaring incompetence and inability to run a critical constitutional commission paints members of the Abagusii community in bad light as other Kenyans could grow suspicious in future and deny able and well meaning sons of the community the chance to serve in sensitive dockets for fear of similar malfeasance.

Further more, Nyachae’s CIC fiasco is being viewed back in Kisii as the marking scheme of his professional and leadership acumen because it is his first ever public office in his long colourless career as a lawyer. They point out categorically that if it is what to go by, then Charles Nyachae is completely incompetent and incapable of steering a public office. They hence complain he will be unable to manage Kisii county if elected governor.

And to a rather bizarre reflection, Abagusii pundits are weary of allowing Nyachae to take charge of the political ship of the community for what they fear are his glaring failures on the cultural and traditional fronts which render him as an abomination type of leader if elevated.

They point out his quick befriending of Deputy President William Ruto and other politicians like Omingo Magara before publicly performing a cleansing ceremony to eject evil spirits emanating from an incident in the run-up to the 2007 general elections in the county where his father Simeon Nyachae publicly unleashed Amachuma warriors in broad daylight who attacked ODM politicians among them Ruto, Magara, Chris Obure and Chris Bichage causing them bodily injuries in which blood was shed.

They point out that such incidents are a taboo and both sides require holding genuine reconciliation, be it through the churches or the traditional cleansing methods (gokorerana) to make peace and live together in peace again. But by Nyachae overlooking that, his leadership while dining with people his father harmed, will be jinxed and even bring bad fortunes to the county; if not the entire Abagusii communities. They say they cannot allow such leadership lest they be hit with tragedies and calamities in future.

Also on the cultural front, they lament his failure to put up a house in his rural home like is required of all circumcised, mature Gusii men. Instead, he and his brothers sometimes spend the night in the same house with their father and his wives which are against tradition. When not spending in his father’s house like an uncircumcised teenager, he sleeps in lodgings when visiting his rural home.

Locals say this is a bad example to other Kisii young men.

They are also pointing out the return of a member of the Nyachae family as a revival of a political order full of tyranny and nepotism where other Abagusii clans were denied development and democratic rights during elections as elective positions were merely dished out to close relatives and a few sycophants.

To win the governor’s slot, Charles is now grooming various forces to go for parliamentary seats across Kisiiland, one is a former district commissioner, a one Sajero who is a well known political bootlicker of the Nyachaes.