UNMASKING THE HIDDEN FACES BEHIND MIGORI FIASCO

A clandestine meeting held at a pub in Awendo town of Migori county where three MPs and 15 other local leaders, including boda boda operators plotted the heckling and chaos that rocked a function presided over by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Detectives have zeroed in on the three MPs and once investigations are complete, they will be arraigned in court facing charges as prescribed by the law on institutions of authority. Latest investigations now reveal that the main intention was to humiliate and embarrass Migori governor Okoth Obado who is accused of leaning and working closely with the government in an area perceived to be an opposition stronghold.

Impeccable sources now say that during the meeting, it was further agreed that each boda boda base within Migori town produce 20 youths to attend the presidential function, specifically to ensure the scheme worked as per the crafted script to disrupt a presidential function.

It is further alleged that the youths were promised Sh500 for skipping work and risking being roughed up by the presidential guards. The total fee for the 200 boda boda operators amounted to Sh100,000, of which one of the three MPs paid Sh40,000 and each of his two colleagues, Sh30,000. A personal assistant of one of the MPs was assigned to make sure the 200 hecklers received their Sh500 for the job as had been agreed.

Sources say that detectives are probing telephone recordings of the three MPs who reportedly gave out money at the planning meeting to embarrass the presidency, as well as M-pesa transactions of the lot of boda boda riders, some of whom have since been arrested and are helping police with intensive investigations.

Nyatike MP Omondi Anyanga whose name has been linked to the chaos has denied any involvement so far. Suna East MP Junet Mohammed has denied involvement in planning of the chaos that were reminiscent of the 1969 heckling of founding father of the nation, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta at Russia Hospital (New Nyanza General Hospital) where 10 lives were lost when the presidential guard opened fire on a rowdy crowd.

Shockingly, it has emerged that the youths who were hired to cause mayhem in Migori were the same youths who had been hired by Governor Obado to eject Senator James Orengo of Siaya county from a funeral function two months ago in the same area.

The incident occurred during the burial of Benter Owino, the wife of the former Migori MP, Charles Owino Likowa at Kakrao about eight kilometres from Migori town.

But local residents now claim that the president’s tour was hastily and poorly arranged by Governor Obado who acted as a lone ranger without involving and consulting leaders in the region.

Although Obado is a close ally of Ruto, after the Supreme Court upheld his election, he was now seen as leaning towards Raila Odinga and Cord leadership. During the funeral of Raila’s mother-in-law, the governor is reported to have parted with colossal amounts of money which he gave to the bereaved family.

A week before the chaos, Obado drove all the way from Migori to Kagwa  sub-location in Uyoma West, Rarieda to attend the funeral of the sister to Raila’s aide Eliud Owalo. The function was also attended by Raila and the Siaya governor Rasanga Amoth and nominated MP Oburu Oginga and other close members of the Odinga family. Owalo is regarded as a close confidante of Raila with a distinction in management planning of the former premier’s daily itinerary.

As the search for the financiers of the chaos continues, leaflets hit Rapogi market, which is next to Governor Obado’s Uriri home. The leaflets written in Dho-Luo and purported to have been written by Hellen Odie Obado, the wife of the governor, issued a stern warning to the boda boda motorbike taxis operators in Uriri to desist from frequenting her homestead for the purpose of begging handouts in cash money from her husband.

The leaflets were quickly dismissed as the work of Obado’s political opponents who are hell-bent on tarnishing the governor’s name for the purpose of gaining political mileage by taking advantage of the Migori fiasco for their own selfish ends.