Raila Meets More Than 1500 Delegates from Nyanza Despite Ban on Public Gatherings
Nyanza's political leadership on Thursday gave Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) chief Raila Odinga their blessings to run for the country’s President.
Gathogo Wanjiru 
About 1,500 delegates drawn from Kisumu, Siaya, Nyamira, Kisii, Homa Bay, and Migori gathered at Sikri Technical College for a conference that gave the ODM party leaders the green light to go and look for support from the rest of Kenya.
The gathering happened despite President Uhuru Kenyatta announcing the suspension of all political gatherings for 60 days following rising Covid-19 cases.
The conference concluded with a push of resolutions being ratified, top among them was the region's decision to continue supporting the BBI.
Dubbed the 'Oyugis declaration', the conference also resolved that henceforth, the region's politics will revolve around growing Nyanza's economic development.
The resolutions read by Senator Sam Ongeri (Kisii) also resolved to refuse the politics of tokenism that they said has perpetually condemned the area's youths to hustler's brigade.
The leaders further pledged to ensure Nyanza remains consolidated behind Raila to enable him to focus on mobilizing support outside the region.
Senators, governors and their deputies, MPs, and MCAs drawn from the six Nyanza counties witnessed the opposition leader begin his next bid from his political home.
Raila's latest move that saw him retreating to his political bedrock is seen as an attempt to ring-fence the region from his opponents who are already jostling to penetrate the opposition stronghold.
Speaking at the conference, Raila announced that the party had suspended the planned regional Town Hall meetings.
"We met with the medical experts who advised against having public gatherings. However the government directives came late after the convenors of today's meeting had made preparations which were almost complete, " Raila said.
The former Prime Minister spoke of the need to revive the collapsed sugar industry, coffee and tea sub-sectors, and other agricultural investments. He said it was a pity that most of the industries in Nyanza have been stalked by poor management.
"The fishing industry is greatly under-exploited, with persistent cases of harassment in Lake Victoria. We need to maximize the utilization of the lake as a resource in Marine transport and blue economy, " he said.
