Soft-spoken Dr Anami shakes up Kakamega politics, emerges as new power player

The entry of soft spoken Dr. Sylvester Anami in the Kakamega County gubernatorial contest is a thorn in the flesh of many other aspirants, including the incumbent Fernandes Barasa.

With his family in Idakho where he was born, Dr Anami has family ties with the Isukha people and this gives him a head-start against County Senator Bonnie Khalwale and Woman Representative Elsie Muhanda, both born in Idakho, should he mount a serious campaign for 2027.

Muhanda is married in Isukha.

With Khalwale perceived to be playing dirty politics full of propaganda and seen to be abusing Barasa every other time he gets an opportunity to address the masses, his bid to rise to the helm seems to be getting a slimmer.

Also, he lacks a substantive development record since the time he served as a Member of Parliament of Ikolomani and a two-time Senator of Kakamega.

This has led to a conclusion that he can’t be trusted in matters service and development delivery but should remain as a vocal leader at the Senate, to keep an eye on oversight.

Khalwale also has never been seen to address real issues afflicting the people of Kakamega among them agriculture, high unemployment rate among the youth, poverty alleviation, food security, wealth creation, corruption and good governance.

Instead, he is known to shift blames even as he is seen as among those close to the Kenya Kwanza top echelons and whom it was expected he would lobby for development to the county.

In Malava constituency, for instance, Khalwale is accused of deserting former Housing Minister the late Peter Soita Shitanda at his hour of need when he contested against Wycliffe Oparanya for the top County seat in the 2013 elections.

Khalwale is said to have been playing double agent s he would campaign for Oparanya at night especially in his backyard but would pretend during the daytime that he supported Shitanda whenever he visited Malava to campaign.

Shitanda lost to Oparanya, and many blame Khalwale for lying to the former Minister.

Elsewhere, Muhanda’s candidature was announced at a funeral, and it seems she is not yet fully ready to change tact even as her bad record when she served at the County as a minister in Oparanya’s administration is likely to haunt her.

She is said to be heavily investing in ferrying of hecklers to functions and this has not gone down well with the electorate who are seeking answers on her expenditure of over KSh150 million allocated to her office through National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) yearly.

Word on the street is that the only thing visible from her office are distribution of sanitary pads for school going children, umbrellas to her allies, and water tanks to few select schools.

At the same time, it is said that she is the supplier through a proxy, and she is minting millions out of the deal even as her project does not go in line with the Vision 2030.

Dr Anami, on his part is yet to go heavy in public on his ambitions but his name is on the lips of many of the electorate.

In many occasions, he has called for the need to accord elected leaders opportunity to deliver on their plan.

But the pressure is mounting daily from the electorate, who maintain he has the required qualifications to lead the county, just about two and a half years to the 2027 elections.

An academic and a researcher specialising in agricultural productivity, he is known to have introduced the cultivation of breadfruits and insects as food crops in Kenya while enhancing the capacities of small-scale farmers in Kakamega county to generate wealth and grow small enterprises.

At the same time, he is acknowledged for collaborating with various stakeholders to foster communal unity of purpose and facilitating investment opportunities in over five of the former Western province.

His communication has always pointed at an individual who has a clear vision and agenda for the citizens of Kakamega county.

Dr Anami, who has settled in Malava Constituency, one of the sub-counties of Kakamega with the highest number of registered voters, is likely to change the political landscape of the county once he hits the ground running.