[Thousands of Kisii residents listening to President Uhuru Kenyatta. Locals have been urged to elect visionalry leaderrs. Photo/Hivisasa.com]
Voters in Kisii County been advised to elect visionary leaders regardless of their political parties as one way of fostering development.
The electorate has been told to ignore the trend of voting for leaders based on popular party affiliation which was witnessed in 2013.
In the last elections, ODM emerged the dominant party in the region, sweeping the parliamentary and County Assembly seats.
Its dominance in the county is however under threat following shambolic nominations that were marred by claims of rigging and exclusion of candidates in some areas, leading to the decision by several aspirants to vie for seats as independent candidates.
Bobasi parliamentary aspirant Samson Kirioba (Maendeleo Chap Chap) said the Gusii region would experience meaningful changes should it decide to vote for focused and development-oriented leaders.
“If the electorate decides to vote for visionary leaders regardless of their political parties and handouts they receive from politicians, there will be tremendous change in our region in terms of development,” said Mr Kirioba.
The aspirant who was addressing residents at his home in Bassi central ward Bobasi constituency on Friday during his homecoming rally, added that Bobasi residents have nothing to smile about in terms of development due to poor leadership.
“Bobasi residents have been shortchanged for decades by selfish and incompetent leaders. As the general election nears we should identify the real visionaries in our ranks who can transform our constituency and country in large,” he said.
He attributed the poor state of roads, schools and other public infrastructure in the region to the practice of voters being swayed by political party euphoria and handouts to elect non performers.
“In many times people have been voting for parties and also basing their choices on how much someone offers during campaigns forgetting that their actions carry consequences that will last the next five years. It’s high time the electorate voted for visionary leaders who are ready to implement meaningful development projects in the region,” said Mr Kirioba.
Mr Kirioba who is the Kisii MCC branch chair also appealed for peaceful campaigns, asking youth to shun being used by greedy politicians out to cause chaos for personal gain.
KNC senatorial candidate Richard Atemba said that electorate has been denied an opportunity of taking their leaders to account, alleging that they always turn against their voters and assume the role of employer instead of employee in the power structure.
“Our constitution has vested the sovereign power in the people of Kenya, meaning that they hold the ultimate decision on who stays in power or exits. It is tragic that the elected leaders are the ones behaving as if possession of power is their exclusive right without the possibility of being monitored or taken to account by the people,” the politician said.
He recommended that senate should be given more powers to oversight and regulate the National Assembly, saying the electorate had been let down by an ineffective and powerless senate.
Mr Atemba accused senators of failing in their duties as representatives of the people, saying most had been lured to vie for governorship seats because of greed for the control of county finances.