Scholars dash for Kakamega County UDA Governor ticket
Three academicians are among the four aspirants who have so far expressed interest in the Kakamega governorship on the banner of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) banner in the 2027 General Election.
Political scientist Prof. Amukowa Anangwe, Biochemist Prof Sylvester Elkana Anami and Higher Education Principal Secretary Dr Beatrice Inyangala together with incumbent Deputy Governor Ayub Savula are the only candidates who had by Tuesday morning officially enlisted as potential contestants for the gubernatorial seat on a UDA ticket, just two days before the outfit holds a mega meeting to be presided over by Party Leader, President William Ruto on Thursday, February 4.
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The quartet is among the over 9,000 party members who have registered as aspirants for five of the six seats to be contested for at next year’s polls.
Save for the position of President, a cross-section of party members have enlisted to vie for posts of Member of County Assembly (MCA), Member of Parliament, Senator, Woman Representative and Governor.
Scholars Anangwe, Anami and Inyangala in addition to former journalist Savula are all seeking to unseat Governor Fernandes Barasa of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Also to have declared interest in the seat are current Woman Representative Elsie Muhanda of ODM, area Senator Dr. Boni Khalwale who was elected on a UDA flag in 2022 but has since announced that he will contest against Barasa on another party and immediate former Senator Cleophas Malalah of the Democracy for the Citizens Party (DCP) of impeached immediate former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua.
Apart from the relatively new face in the person of Anami, the rest of the aspirants are old hands who have dabbled in the tricky Kakamega county politics for a considerable time.
The three UDA contestants outside Anami are all close allies of Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, the long-serving and most influential leader from the Mulembe Nation in the Kenya Kwanza Government.
Inyangala is an educationist who previously did time in the NGO world and taught at universities.
In 2022, she contested for the position of Kakamega Deputy Governor on the Amani National Congress (ANC) ticket as a running-mate of Malalah. The duo was trounced by Barasa, whose running-mate was Savula.
Until recently, Anangwe served as the chairman of the Council of the University of Nairobi (UoN).
He has previously served as MP for Butere and Minister for Co-operatives Development and Minister for Medical Services.
Before his appointment to the UoN position, Anangwe had been a senior lecturer at Dodoma University in Tanzania.
Anami is the surprise package of the Kakamega gubernatorial race.
The 51-year-old don is a Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellow and PIFI Fellow.
Born in Ibukase village of Shiseso Sub-location in Ikolomani constituency, Anami is the new kid on the block in Kakamega politics where he starts as the underdog.
He has spent most of his past in the academia where he is highly respected owing to the numerous feats he has achieved in his field of study.
For two years now, Anami has been involved in people-oriented grassroots engagements across the county though he has yet to hit the traction to match the veterans he seeks to contest against.
The rural-bred scientist attended Shamusinjiri Primary School, Cheptais High School, and owing to financial dire straits moved to Namulungu High School and later Mwihila High School.
He joined the University of Nairobi in 1996 where he earned a BSc degree in Botany and Biochemistry. He later secured a VLIR scholarship to Belgium, to pursue a MSc degree in Plant Biotechnology at Katholic University Leuven and later completed his PhD in Biotechnology at Ghent University where he graduated with a distinction.
A Chinese Government funding enabled him to carry out post-doctoral studies at the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing.
He has lectured at the Technical University of Mombasa, where he founded the Laboratory of Plant Genetics and Systems Biology. He later, transitioned to JKUAT, to serve as a Senior Researcher in the Institute for Biotechnology Research, and eventually advanced to the position of Professor of Biotechnology, where he also took on the role of Director of the Institute.
He is widely regarded for his scholarly work and field research and as an authority in the realm of Agricultural Biotechnology on a global scale.
He has made significant contributions to the scientific community. In collaboration with farmers in Kakamega and Nyando Kisumu in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Sudan, and China Anami has successfully introduced sweet sorghum hybrids developed through fundamental research aimed at the sustainable production of value-added products.
He is presently in the process of establishing a manufacturing plant in its experimental phase in Kakamega to support sorghum enhance income, create jobs, and ensure sustainable livelihoods, an initiative that has benefited over 500 farmers who have adopted the sweet sorghum hybrids, thus contributing to food and nutrition security in their households along with improved financial returns.
He also spearheads the African Breadfruit Initiative in collaboration with international partners, where he introduced breadfruit to Kenya for the first time and oversees the largest breadfruit botanical garden located in Kakamega county. Breadfruit flour, which is gluten-free, can serve as a complete substitute for wheat flour, and a single breadfruit tree can sustain a family of five for a century.
In partnership with Rural Outreach Africa, there are plans to incorporate breadfruit flour into school feeding programmes to provide essential nutrition for the optimal growth of children.
Barasa and Muhanda made their political debut in 2022 in which they were beneficiaries of the ODM wave that swept across the populous country.
Before joining politics, Barasa had been the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company (Ketraco).
Malalah registered his presence in Kakamega county way back in 2013 when he was elected as the MCA for Mahiakalo ward in Kakamega town, Lurambi constituency.
In 2017, he successfully contested the position of senator on the ticket of ANC, a party then led by Mudavadi.
In 2022, he staged a bid for the Kakamega governorship on, again, an ANC banner but lost to ODM’s Barasa.
He later quit ANC to join UDA where he was appointed the ruling party’s secretary-general.
He was dismissed from the party in 2024 after the exit of impeached Deputy President Gachagua with whom they would co-found the DCP where he is the Deputy Party Leader.
Khalwale is a politician of no mean achievement.
He was elected the MP for Ikolomani in 1997. He served for 10 years, half of them as Assistant Minister for East African Co-operation.
In 2013, he was elected the first senator of Kakamega. His bid in 2017 for governorship floundered as he lost to Barasa.
He retained the Senate seat in 2022 and was until last December the Majority Whip in the Upper House.
He lost the House position after he campaigned for the Opposition candidate in the Malava parliamentary by-election held on November 27 last year.
Savula, a former journalist with the Standard Group Limited (SGL), was elected as Lugari MP in 2013. He served for two terms until 2022 when he was elected as Barasa’s deputy in a partnership of sorts.
While the Governor flew the ODM flag in the elections, Savula donned the DAP-K colours.
Both ODM and DAP-K were members of the Azimio La Umoja coalition which at the time supported the presidential candidacy of former Prime Minister, the late Raila Odinga.
At the national level, ODM has entered into a loose memorandum of understanding in which they hope to approach next year’s election as one coalition.
ODM has been demanding that Kakamega county be zoned in its favour during the incoming polls as one way of keeping their pact.
However, no concrete deal has been reached between the two parties regarding that matter.
It remains to be seen whether UDA will cave in to ODM’s demand and also if the UDA camp will remain intact in the face of such an eventuality.
