Hon Gladys Wanga
By Madanje Junior
When the news of the death of the then Homa Bay County Senator Gerald Otieno Kajwang broke out, many Kenyans saw it as a huge blow to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party leader, Raila Odinga.
A huge blow it was indeed since Kajwang was the former Prime Minister’s right hand man and astute defender. His “Bado Mapambano” tunes ecstatically excited crowds whenever he rose to address any gathering.
Kajwang’s death undoubtedly left a very big gap in the politics of Homa Bay County. Many asked the million dollar question, “Who will fit into the shoes of Kajwang”.
In terms of the empty seat at the Senate, a replacement in Kajwang’s brother, Moses was found. An eloquent and gifted orator with a good grasp of Kenya’s political twists and turns. But did he replace his brother’s personality? No. So who did?
Parliamentary Service Commissioner Gladys “Nyasuna” Wanga, the Homa Bay County Women representative fits that bill according to residents of Homa Bay County and serious political pundits.
Wanga, arguably the most vocal and active of the 47 county women representatives has presented herself as a charismatic and vigorous politician, earning herself friends and foe in equal measures.
In the national politics, she is known to take on the Jubilee mandarins with a lot of zeal and fearlessly, often earning her criticism and even scathing scorns from her colleagues in the government benches.
Her support and loyalty to ODM and CORD and particularly to the former PM is relentless and ruthless, to say the least.
More than once, she has found herself on National Assembly speaker Justin Muturi’s wrong books and many times she has been a top defender of MPs and their huge perks.
She was one the most vocal and consistent legislators in talking passionately about SRC’s intentions to cut down on the MPS’ salaries. The move, for obvious reasons, drew attacks from the public and praises from her colleagues.
In the just concluded ODM party elections, Gladys withered the storm and towered above her main challenger and made minced meat of Homa Bay Town legislator Peter Opondo Kaluma.
Despite the loser boasting of having the entire county machinery behind him as well as support from other political leaders who feared that Wanga would leave them brutally wounded, she still came out even much stronger after everything was done and dusted.
Political pundits have opined that in a scenario where the constitution is reviewed and the number of women reps reduced, Gladys Wanga has the muscles to represent two counties in Luo Nyanza combined.
Her eloquence and prowess in strategic planning and mobilization has seen her win hearts and supporters across all the four counties of Luo Nyanza and indeed the entire country.
Since her election as ODM chair for Homa Bay County, she has traversed the county by and large, giving hope to the dream of a Raila Odinga presidency in 2017. A dream that she insists must come true this time round.
She has been the face of the reinvigorated voter registration exercise in the county.
It is worth noting that even the ODM party leader has made note of the kind of pillar that he has in Gladys Wanga.
Recently, at a function in Homa Bay during the official launch of the Kabunde airstrip, Raila asked all the county ODM leadership to rally behind her as they prepare the final bullet and the final gun, for the final stab at the presidency.
Moving forward, Gladys Wanga will be the political play maker, the Lionel Messi of Homa Bay County politics. With support from other Raila Odinga stalwarts like Kasipul MP Oyugi Magwanga, Kabondo’s Sylvance Osele and the Orange House machinery behind her, Nyasuna will deliver the county into the party’s basket.
Though her critics have argued that Wanga has used her closeness with the Odinga family to steadily rise to where she is now, but political analysts dismiss the same saying that the Homa Bay women representative has built her own empire through grass root mobilization like her well crafted Homa Bay women Sacco that envisages to empower low incoming women.
During the long parliament recess that ended last week, Wanga had a well coordinated ID registration program that saw her attend ward open days and managed to visit 36 out 40 wards in Homabay County.
The decision to come up with this program was informed by the low intake of IDs in this region as the ODM party prepares for another stab to the presidency.
She managed to register 22,000 new applicants for IDs and she will strive to ensure that these IDs are ready in time for the voter registration program that kicked off last week on the 15th of Feb.
In the entire Nyanza, Gladys is the only women representative who has no competitor at all and it’s not a question of if but when she will be re-elected.
READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: http://simpleafrica.blogspot.co.ke/2016/03/has-homabay-county-finally-found-late.html
