Kenyan man climbing the ladder politically and now serves the public after being elected civic politician for Kisumu Municipal Council.
Posted by African Press International on April 28, 2010
FROM PRIMARY SCHOOL DROP OUT, MANDAZI SELLER TO A COUNCILLOR IN KISUMU MUNICIPALITY.
Feature story by Agwanda Jowi.
<The search for votes
When Councilor James Osir Nyamwaya started helping the people within Kogony Ward and adjacent areas to his ancestral Kogony village, little did he know that at one point they will urge him to be their civic representative at the Kisumu Municipality Town Hall as a councilor and later head Youths and Women Affairs Committee.
The short, dark, soft speaking man says that there are things which have happened in his life so rapidly that he can only attribute to the almighty God who he says he has never asked anything and has denied to step in with blessings.
While speaking with this writer at his Kogony home, Cllr Osir says that initially he just helped his people as he saw various problems which the orphans, widows and the less fortunate within his village faced.
“At a certain point in life, I asked the almighty God how I could help my people with the little I had as the problems were many and diverse ranging from school fees, strengthening women groups as well as attending to their personal problem because I did not have the answer to all their problems” he added.
He further adds that the answer came in the form of his electorates requesting him to be their representative, a thing he never thought of as initially his major aim was to establish a non governmental organization to help his people but which looked a tall order due to his limited academic background.
“I did my Kenya Primary Certificate of Education and left school after that because my parents were too poor to educate me and I started baking mandazis which I still do hence my nickname “Ja Mandas”, he added.
Osir adds that when his people requested him to go for a civic seat, after a lot of soul-searching he decided to plunge into murky world of politics which he initially thought was bed of roses.
“I contested on the popular ODM party which my people told me to join and that’s what I did, when I started a thorough campaign ahead of the party’s nominations my opponents discovered that I was going to defeat them and then they ganged up against me and created chaos which resulted to the nominations not taking place” he laments saying he is a still member of the party and a strong follower of party leader Raila Oginga Odinga.
“Ja Mandas” as he is known laments that some few elements within ODM regional office after the chaotic elections which he believed he had won gave the certificate to one of his nine opponents called Eunice Otieno.
<Sweet victory
He says that his spirit was not dampened and he was willing to go and campaign for the lady on ODM party as that was also his party,”but seems my supporters had other things tucked up their sleeves, they came to me one morning and told me that they were going to elect me still on any other party” he says.
He adds that they picked for him Reformed Party of Kenya on which he trounced his ODM opponent by 1,350 votes to her 350 votes, a feat he could not believe and attributes it to the almighty God as ODM ‘s wave had strongly gripped the country.
Among the developments he has so far brought to his voters are; construction of houses for fifty widows in his constituency and upgrading of Okore Ogonda and Kirembe primary schools and payment of school fees of thirty students from his own pocket and day to day help he avails to his voters, on top of that he has also drilled a bore hole for his voters who now enjoy free and clean water.
He says that despite the Kisumu Airport just being two hundred meters from their home, he never thought that at a certain point he will board an airplane from there.
“Reaching only standard eight the furthest I thought I could go was Kisumu to buy wheat flour for my mandazis, today I am constantly flying, courtesy of my position and my advice is this; one should not loose hope in life, he should think on what he can do for his people and above all trust in the Almighty God.
The Civic man at work serving his people>
He tells the youth to embrace education and work real hard despite their education limitations adding that he will enroll next year for the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education as he says that’s a likely requirement should the proposed draft be passed.
“God has made me reach where I am, despite my academic background, at times I use to regret that he never gave me school fees but this days I see it as his ways of elevating me and telling people that his ways are not our ways” he finally says as I leave him but adds that he is going to make a stab again as a civic leader come 2012 on any party Raila Odinga fronts, and that will be for the sake of finishing all the development projects he has help to start.
ENDS
