Jack Nyanungo Ranguma simply known as JR became the first Kisumu County Governor in 2013, after being elected on the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) ticket.
ODM leader Raila Odinga’s sister Ruth Adhiambo Odinga was his deputy.Prior to joining politics, Ranguma worked as an accountant for over 20 years.
Being a political outsider, JR was expected to steer Kisumu to greater economic heights, and hold a firm grip on the Lakeside county’s politics so that a bid for his second term in 2017 becomes a through pass, but that was not to be.
Perhaps, there are two things that led to JR’s fall. One is that Ranguma and Ms Odinga entered into a forced political marriage in 2013, arising from a stalemate in the ODM primaries for the gubernatorial seat.
ODM bosses settled for Ranguma as governor and Ms Odinga as deputy. From the word go, the union seemed cast on sand with the two leaders wrangling for the better part of their term in office.
Secondly, Ranguma seemed to have brushed shoulders with ODM leadership in 2016, when he said that frequent ODM rallies were slowing the development agenda in Kisumu.
He said that on most occasions, he had to attend ODM rallies across the country instead of running the county and engaging investors. Come 2017, JR lost to former Senator Anyang' Nyong’o in ODM party primaries and the general elections.
It is still early days to predict JR’s next move ahead of the 2022 elections.
#hivisasaoriginal