After decades of political struggles in Nyanza, Adipo Okuome finally won an MP seat, and in the process made history as the oldest politician to be elected during the August 2017 election.
Labelled a "perrenial loser", the 81-year old had seen it all having been in the game for over 30 years. However, for him, he had never been elected despite being a serial candidate in the Karachuonyo MP race. But he waited for his turn to came his old age notwithstanding.
With James Rege, the man who beat him in 2013, having parted ways with Raila Odinga's ODM, it was Okuome's time to pounce on the opportunity and finally take over the seat. Initially, he was about to miss the coveted ODM ticket. But after the nomination process was repeated, the veteran finally ended his political bad luck by clinching the Orange party certificate. The seat was his to lose.
After the August poll, and after many years of waiting on the sidelines, the struggler had made it and was an MP at last. The history-making man was 81 and became Kenya's oldest MP.
At 86, it is unlikely that the US-trained Accountant will go for a second term. But for him, the mission which once looked impossible was made possible.