Double misery for Ranguma after poll petition loss

For Jack Ranguma the year is off to a bad start. The man who spent his formative days making tax cases and netting revenues for the State is literally nursing a double loss.

The ex-governor of Kisumu not only lost a case in which he sought to overturn an election result that deposed him from his seat but also lost a substantial amount of cash towards defraying the cost of the petition.

He did not expect anything close to the January 3 judgment and so like any typical litigant, Mr Ranguma sat pensively on the hard wooden bench of the Kisumu Law Courts, hoping that the case he filed challenging governor Anyang’ Nyong’s election, would be decided in his favour.

Few minutes before the judgment, he even had time to exchange pleasantries with the current Kisumu deputy governor Mathews Owili, Senator Fred Outa and Speaker Onyango Oloo.

Then, the bombshell. High Court judge David Majanja dismissed his petition for lack of evidence.

The disappointment on his face was evident as he addressed his supporters outside the courtroom before he squeezed into a waiting car with his running mate and took off.

Mr Ranguma maintained that the elections were rigged and termed the ruling an unfortunate one for the people of Kisumu.

His message to his supporters was for them not to despair as there were still many windows to seek justice, saying appealing the case was one.

“I will be consulting with my lawyer on the possibility of appealing. The fruits of a stolen victory are evident in Kisumu as you are seeing the troubles the government is facing. Five years is very short and I will bounce back,” said Mr Ranguma.

The court case that slapped him with Sh5 million litigation cost just added to the many woes the former governor had gone through in the five years he was elected the first county boss of the lakeside city.

First, he had to overcome the nomination hurdle, that he almost lost in 2013 had it not been the demonstrations that rocked Kisumu County, forcing the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to award him the ticket and not Opposition chief Raila Odinga’s sister Ruth Odinga.

Mr Ranguma later almost lost the ticket as a result of his overseas academic papers. He was turned away by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission because the Commission for Higher Education had not cleared him. He had to hurriedly catch a flight to Nairobi in a bid to beat the deadline of the nomination clearance.

The two were later joined on the hip in a forced political marriage with Ms Odinga deputising him. This partnership did not go well and on many occasions, the duo clashed.

He is infamously remembered for staying at a hotel for months before and after he was elected, costing taxpayers millions of shillings instead of sheltering at an official county residence.

Mr Ranguma’s troubles seemed to follow him everywhere, forcing him to measure his words in public lest he rubbed the ODM party leadership the wrong way.

He once got into trouble when he said his frequent attendance of ODM rallies across the country had eaten into his time to develop Kisumu, a statement he said was taken out of context.

During the ODM party nominations, Mr Ranguma found himself fighting against claims of disloyalty against his party.

“I did what I had to do for the party. I even oversubscribed when it comes to party funding, but I was still denied the ticket despite defeating Prof Nyong’o” he claimed.

“I chose to contest as an independent candidate simply because the law requires so for me to defend my seat.”

Mr Odinga’s support for the current governor Prof Nyong’o is a clear contrast from Mr Ranguma, where the Opposition leader was seen during the launch of the monthly clean-up.

He would later be seen with the ex-governor during the Luo Festival and a host of political rallies where on many occasions, Mr Ranguma would be shouted down in the presence of Mr Odinga.

It was also during his tenure as the Council of Governors’ Committee of Health chairman that the country witnessed one of the worst health crises ever with the doctors strike that went on for more than 100 days.

However, in Kisumu, nurses never went on strike apart from the recent national boycott, which took five months.

Mr Ranguma’s government was also rocked by scandals, a drop in revenue collection and infighting that led to the sacking of four county executive members.

But despite all the woes, the ex-Kisumu boss who is an accountant prides himself on having spurred Kisumu’s economic growth.

Last year, the World Bank released a report on the ease of doing business in Kenya that ranked Kisumu as the best county to do business in Kenya and number 40 in the world. It was also rated the fastest growing city in Africa.

Mr Ranguma said during his tenure, developers could get the fastest approval for building plans, devoid of bureaucracies adding that the digital system had reduced the human tendency to delay processes.

Some of his achievements are the introduction of the full scholarship and bursary programmes that are supporting bright and needy students to pursue education as one of the achievements.