Budalang’i Member of Parliament Raphael Wanjala is once again in the eye of a political storm, this time over his scheme to impose son as constituency’s next legislator, a move that has already send mixed reactions and shockwaves within ODM and among his inner circles.
His close confidants and supporters claim the move is a dangerous attempt to turn Budalang’i into a family possession, with many questioning terming the move miscalculated, considering Wanjala’s record over two decades which has been nothing short of disastrous.
First elected in 1997, the legislator has repeatedly failed to live up to expectations, with the constituency remaining trapped in the same backwardness it endured in the 1990s and despite billions allocated through the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), little tangible progress can be pointed to.
Collins Wanjala Bush, is a Nairobi-based lawyer, and is now being groomed to inherit the ODM networks and use it to plot a parliamentary seat capture, with his father pulling every string to secure him a favour within the ODM’s bigwigs.
To many electorates and the community at large, Wanjala Bush represents nothing more than entitlement, a parachute candidate who has never endured the harsh realities of life in Budalang’i.
Even within ODM, discomfort is growing. Party insiders whisper that backing Collins would amount to rewarding failure, potentially jeopardizing ODM’s grip on Budalang’i. Some argue that the constituency has been politically loyal for too long to be taken for granted with recycled mediocrity.
The bigger question now haunting residents is simple: what exactly has Wanjala delivered in his 20 years to justify such dynastic entitlement?
