Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga has demanded the sacking of Interior PS Dr. Raymond Omollo for supporting an opponent of the ODM Party in the just concluded Kasipul by-election.
Sources tell Hivi Punde that Governor Wanga whose relationship with the Interior principal secretary has been rocky from the start told the President that a number of government officials from the region supported Independent Candidate Philip Aroko who emerged a distant second in the by-election.
The governor accuses these unnamed officials of flouting the UDA-ODM agreement to zone the constituency for the ODM Party candidate. She claims they were acting at the behest and direction of the Interior PS.
The demand to sack Omollo is not new, having been on the table much earlier in the formative days of the broad-based government.
The ODM Party had pushed for the appointment of Dr. Francis Owino, a former PS under Uhuru whose earlier appointment had been made courtesy of Raila’s 2018 handshake with President Uhuru, but President Ruto declined.
Wanga, who is the ODM Party chairperson, is said to have called an urgent NEC meeting to pass a resolution on the matter, even though several Luo MPs are opposed to the removal of the PS.
“The elections in Kasipul are over and anybody using them to punish the few of us in government is not reading the mood in the room,” said an ODM MP on condition of anonymity.
The demand to sack the Interior PS comes at a time other ODM leaders are demanding for more positions in government, with Rarieda MP Otiende Amolo leading the class.
Siaya Governor James Orengo had earlier hinted that there is need for a coalition agreement to protect the “experts” who the late ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga nominated to government, saying with the passing of Raila they can be sacked any time.
Whereas Governor Wanga does not want to go public with her demands, fearing a backlash in Homa Bay, she is lobbying ODM to adopt the matter thus present it to the president as an ODM party position.
The Kasipul by-election was won by ODM candidate Boyd Were, the son of the late MP Charles Ong’ondo Were who was a close ally of the Homa Bay Governor.
The governor had to camp in Kasipul for weeks spending a fortune in an election that was initially touted as an easy pick for the Orange Party.
If the President heeds to Wanga and sacks PS Omollo, it will be the second time the governor is getting her way in removal of senior officials from Homa Bay appointed in government who do not kowtow to her.
She had earlier instigated the sacking of former Non-Executive Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Lake Victoria South Water Works Development Agency Odoyo Owidi, who was dropped and replaced by her relative Dan Omino.
Keep it here for more updates for this developing saga…
