Unlike in recent times, a convict could run for elections and still be declared a winner in olden days in his absentia.
Nowadays, one must go through rigorous clearance including going through EACC and CID to obtain essential certificates before running for elections.
And in 1983 elections, recalls Prof Nyachieo Bogonko in his book dubbed ‘King makers’, Zachary Onyonka, a powerful minister in both Presidents Jomo Kenyatta and Daniel Moi’s governments, easily defended his Kitutu West seat while being jailed at Kodiaga prison.
The minister had been charged with killing of a rival supporter, one Ouru Ndege, who was shot dead by Onyonka’s bodyguards in Kisumu-Migori junction at Kisii.
According to the author, Onyonka had turned up to campaign in the region hours after his opponent had left before the angry supporter confronted him with a machete.
While undergoing murder trial at Kisumu’s Kodiaga, Onyonka was elected unanimously by his constituents and would assume his seat later in 1984 after being released from prison.
The former Foreign Affairs minister had defeated Gusii political heavyweight Lawrence Sagini in 1969 elections and served uninterrupted terms until his death in 1996.
His son Richard Onyonka, a third term MP would win the seat in 2007 on a PDP ticket before being reelected on ODM in 2013 and subsequent switch to Ford Kenya in 2017.
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