Opinion sent to www.goodmorningkenya.com by a voter from Vihiga county. Jonstone Mweresa.
Politics of Vihiga county are too local and filled with clannishness to an extent that no foreign element can plug in to understand it. It is on this backdrop that many people who blindly voted for the current Woman rep are yearning to vote her out come 2022.
The residents are not a happy lot if her truck record is anything to take marks for. The beautiful Woman rep has not only disappointed the people who put her into power, her slackness and political mi-sharpness to issues affecting people of Vihiga has added salt into the mix and these mistakes have inversely opened up the race to replace her. It will be impossible for her to defend her seat.
The woman rep is not a politician who can survive in murky politics if left on her own. In Vihiga county, it will be an uphill task for her to bounce back into parliament unless something drastic and dramatic is done to her nature and nurture of politics. Someone needs to iron her verbatim, dress her stage fright, cut her delivery to size in order for her to present a powerful stature. Her only recourse is the powerful and persuasive name and the personality of the ANC leader, which without, the current Woman rep will not galvanize Vihiga votes on her own in 2022.
There are no tangible development projects, political or social the ANC woman rep has initiated and completed in Vihiga County. She may claim drops of marks here and there but there is nothing big you can write about. If you traverse the entire Vihiga county, majority of the residents claim that they are shopping for a new candidate who will most likely replace Hon. Beatrice Adagala. Some say even if she will retain the ANC nomination ticket, any other woman candidate on any other ticket will be able to trounce her.
A record has been set in Vihiga county and going by that record, voters will definitely act as they acted to the first Woman rep who lost her ground with them and she opted not to defend her seat but to run for Vihiga Mp. Politics in Vihiga county is a matter of mobilization. If you can mobilize the rich Maragoli vote which spreads nearly in all sub counties except in Bunyore sub county, Mama County as she fondly loves to be called, will not be able to do it. Her roots are now being questioned very much. Though she claims to come from the large Maragoli sub tribe, truth is, she was born to a Tiriki father and Maragoli mother. Due to her nature of politics, Tiriki’s have not been able to embrace her completely and this is where politics becomes too local.
Voters in Bunyore are mooting an idea of supporting a candidate from Tiriki in case the current governor opts to defend his seat. This now complicates the matters and as you know, in politics, it all about numbers. Nothing will work in politics unless you count and show your numbers. In Maragoli land where she is married, the voters there are also considering of sponsoring their own because they believe they have the numbers to usher in a new Woman Rep.
So Mama county is busy claiming that she has succeeded in empowering the vulnerable in Vihiga county, but that is just a project in her own mind, on the field of reality, things are different and you don’t need a rocket science to confirm it. Also, other issues that are complicating and challenging her reign includes the party primary politics where rumors claim that Mama county is falling out with so many people in the party County structures. Her abrasive attitude is not helping either. Many say that, even if she hangs on the goodwill of the party leader, 2022 they must teacher her a political lesson.
