For sometime now, Raila Odinga has always been considered as the Political darling of the Luhyia community.
It is indeed a given fact that in the last three General elections held in the Country, Raila bagged a large chunk of the Luhyia Vote at the expense of his competitors.
However, the political landscape in the Western Region seem to be shifting as a number of political figures who were once loyal to Raila have already jumped ship and joined the William Ruto bandwagon.
Led by former Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, the political heads have argued that Western Region’s prolonged stay in the Opposition has hurt the region so bad and as such, it is time they made their way into the government by all means.
One of the ways of making it to government according to them is completely doing away with opposition Chief Raila Odinga.
Top Luhyia leaders like Moses Wetangula and his ANC counterpart Musalia Mudavadi have been urged to stop associating with Raila Odinga and instead agree who between them will fly the Luhya flag in 2022.
Likuyani MP Enock Kibunguchy has told the leaders and Devolution Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa to dissociate themselves from ODM leader Raila Odinga.
“We know that if any of our leaders goes it alone, he of she will lose. That is what outsiders have been capitalising on to misuse the community. We want the leaders to give us one person who will mobilise the Luhya to rally behind a single candidate,” he said.
“Raila is a political conman who has for decades misused the Luhya community’s numerical strength for personal gain,” Kibunguchi said.
He said Luhyas must learn from past mistakes and have the right friends if the community wants to form the next government.
“Raila bolted from Ford Kenya and formed the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to frustrate the late Vice President Kijana Wamalwa. He used Wetang’ula in 2013 under Cord and abandoned him,” Kibunguchi said.
“He repeated the same with Wetang’ula and Mudavadi when he abandoned them in NASA and joined the government after the March 9, 2018, handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta,” he said.
Kibunguchi said Raila is the biggest enemy of the Luhya and it is time for the community to shun him.
The MP said Raila has fought any upcoming Luhya leader to continue claiming control of the community for his political interests.
Raila has enjoyed immense political following in Western since the death of the former VP Wamalwa on August 23, 2003.
Kibunguchy has accused Raila of hoodwinking the Luhya that he was one of them to gain their support but when there are benefits, he channels them to his Nyanza stronghold.
“We have walked with our brother for decades. But he always abandons us once we have given him the support he needs. This time round we want to tell him that the community has run short of fools. He should look elsewhere,” Kibunguchi said.