Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o has spent most of his political life in elective politics, a journey he began in 1992 as the parliamentarian for Kisumu Rural.
This was 5 years before the complete takeover of the entire Luo Nyanza region by opposition leader Raila Odinga who inherited his father and former Vice President Oginga Odinga as the region’s kingpin.
In 1997, Odinga took his first stab at the presidency on his National Development Party (NDP), but Nyong’o would not have any of it and supported Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu.
The former Lands Minister was then the Social Democratic Party (SDP) presidential candidate.
This saw him lose his Kisumu Rural seat to Winson Ayoki of the (NDP), apparently as a punishment for his miscalculation and political rebellion.
However, Ngilu would later nominate him into parliament in 1998, saving him from the looming stay in political cold, a seat he held until 2002 when he bounced back.
This time round, he accepted to join Raila’s team and found his way back to elective politics courtesy of the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) party which Raila was part of.
He was again re-elected in 2007 on Raila’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party, before securing the Kisumu senatorial and gubernatorial seats in 2013 and 2017 respectively on the same party.
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