By Jim Bonnie
Of late, there has been an unprecedented, frolicsome, vexatious and superfluous attack on Hon. Dalmas Otieno of Rongo constituency.
These attacks stems from fictitious claims that he (Dalmas) is leading or suspected to be leading a mutinous political faction colloquially called “Kalausi”. While the malice from these noise makers is not worth countering, there is need to put some things in order.
Dalmas Otieno is a respected member of ODM party and cord coalition – which he helped form – for that matter. He supported Hon. Raila Odinga in 2002 and 2013 presidential elections and remains a loyal member to the best of my comprehension.
His loyalty has never been questioned. Surprisingly, these despicable allegations are originating from Central Nyanza party supporters who think and assume that he has an agenda of dividing the Luo bloc vote by leading the South Nyanza supporters out of the party.
It should be known that South Nyanza, like any other part of the country, needs development. We in the south have supported Raila Odinga for as long as he has been in politics. Statistically, Raila has always scooped more votes from this part of Nyanza than the noisy Central Nyanza.
Any direction that a community or group takes is always initiated by a leader. Though I can’t attest that Dalmas has an objective of leading a mass exodus from ODM and Raila to be specific; or that he intends to form another party, I must accentuate that he has all the rights and space to do that.
It is however disturbing how these assaults have gone viral in the social media and political plinth. As a party, we need to handle discontent with some sense of humility and provide an environment of concern for those members who feel betrayed in one way or another. Using lethal language won’t help solve issues.
We should therefore construct our comments in a way that depict maturity and respect for our leaders. That doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t criticize. Nevertheless, let’s do it positively.
To terminate this communiqué, I must mention that I come from south Nyanza and I fully understand the politics and dynamics of that region better than the noise makers from “other regions”.
We know which direction to take, when and by whom as the leader. We aren’t blind to the facts that great disparities exists in terms of development and appointments comparatively. What we can’t stomach is the myopic condemnation of our leaders by “outsiders” who purport to know more than we do and even make attempts to dictate our actions.
My prayers are that we see sense and approach these matters with caution. As the youth, we need to have an internal debate and sort some things out all in the effort of making ODM stronger.