Another interesting historical event in the Kenyan political landscape is the Gem by-election of 1969 after the “death” of Clement Michael George Argwings K’Odhek, the then Cabinet Minister for Foreign Affairs on 29th January 1969 in a choreographed “motor car accident.” C.M.G’s assassination was a very sad one.
C.M.G Argwings K’Odhek Odera was the first African lawyer South of the Sahara and North of Limpopo; (in East Africa.)He was the celebrated Mau Mau lawyer, Waruru Kanja’s lawyer and a key legal asset during the Lancaster House Conferences in London; 1960 and 1962 that brokered the Kenya’s independence agreements between Kenya and Britain.
Sadly, he became a victim of political elimination in January 1969, and that is the time when Tom Mboya knew he was next on the guillotine board of Kenyan politics. It became so overt for him that after C.M.G’s elimination, he was the next targeted and sure he became; on 5th July 1969 he was gunned down on Government Road by Ben Gethi ( the big man) and the entire Nairobi went into riot, the rest of the country was thrown into mourning and demonstrations amidst sombre mood.
Argwings K’Odhek was buried in February 1969 and thereafter his Gem Constituency seat declared vacant for interested aspirants to contest for the seat in a by election.In the by elections, Kenyatta fronted Isaac Edwin Omolo Okero (Okero Rayier) in KANU.AG Charles Njonjo proposed Omolo Rading’ to be fronted as the KANU candidate instead..Njonjo’s proposal of Omolo Rading’ was informed by his keen interest in the Nairobi Casino that Omolo Rading’ was managing, in which Njonjo saw a lot of money and therefore was determined to find a way of expunging Omolo Rading from that cash cow by distracting him from it, and letting Rading immerse himself into politics out of Nairobi (upcountry in Gem).. Even though Njonjo was Kenyatta’s right hand man, loyalist and centre of power, Kenyatta disagreed with him and finally settled on his choice Isaac Omolo Okero as the KANU candidate;
On the other side, the opposition doyen Jaramogi Oginga Odinga fronted Wasonga Sijeyo as the KPU candidate to battle it out with Omolo Okero the candidate for KANU in the polls.
For Omolo Okero to win, Kenyatta then keenly observed and resolved that the best political tactician in Kenya then Tom Mboya, have to go and pull a thorough campaign for Omolo Okero.President Jomo Kenyatta ordered Mboya to go and campaign for Omolo Okero in Gem but Mboya sternly refused for two reasons:Mboya told Kenyatta that he will not go to campaign for Omolo in Gem because:
That would make him (Mboya) look like an ethnocentric politician which he was not, he said he is a nationalist and not a tribal leader and as such he has always identified himself with Kenya, and not with Luo or with Nyanza, going to Gem would therefore reduce him to an ethnic politician.
Mboya was keen to avoid the Gem campaigns because he knew Njonjo and the Kenyatta kitchen cabinet were pushing him to go lock horns with Jaramogi in Gem.Secondly, he said he can’t go and campaign for Omolo Okero because Omolo is a political failure and he (Mboya) can’t identify nor align himself with a political failure.
Least of all, on political logic: Omolo Okero could not win against Jaramogi Oginga’s candidate because the Luo community gave Jaramogi an overwhelming support and would be so determined to vote in Jaramogi’s candidate to revenge against Kenyatta in their anger towards C.M.G Argwings Kodhek’s death.
Mboya instead used that campaign period to go on a family vacation with his wife and children in Japan and later China. He however left his ears on the ground and got updated on the progress of the campaigns.
Finally true to his words, Omolo Okero lost the by-election to Wasonga Sijeyo who ran on a KPU ticket, Jaramogi’s party. Wasonga Sijeyo thus became the second Member of Parliament for Gem. Mboya returned after the election and told Kenyatta that he (Mboya) knew that Wasonga would beat Omolo in the election because Gem politics was tribal and as such a candidate supported by Kenyatta would not win as the Gem people were bitter with Kenyatta over CMG Argwings K’Odhek’s “mysterious death.
”Shown in the picture below is Isaac Edwin Omolo Okero.“OKERO RAYIER..” “Okero Ratik…”
