Tensions simmer in Kenya’s Luo heartland as former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s anticipated Bondo visit today collides head-on with lingering fury over his controversial Raila illness remarks, leaving locals torn between hospitality and heartache.
The unannounced trip to Siaya County, rumoured to rally Mt Kenya allies ahead of 2027 polls, has prompted a poignant welcome from community elders, who insist the pain from Gachagua’s past jabs at opposition doyen Raila Odinga during his health scare remains raw.
“While we welcome him to Bondo, we cannot forget the hurtful remarks he made about Raila Odinga during his illness. Those words left many of us in deep pain,” declared Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga in a viral statement from his Bondo homestead, echoing sentiments from matatus to market stalls.
The backdrop is a fresh wound, barely three weeks old. Just last month, Gachagua sparked outrage by questioning Odinga’s extended absence abroad as a mere “medical holiday”, urging the Azimio la Umoja leader to “appear publicly to quell rumours” in a KTN interview that lit up social media.
Critics, including Odinga’s secretariat, branded it a vicious smear, accusing the DP of mocking a statesman’s vulnerability amid whispers of prostate issues.
“Being unwell is not a crime,” Gachagua later clarified in a YouTube clip, but the damage stuck; Luo elders invoked it as “insensitive barbs from a brother gone rogue.”
In Bondo, where Odinga’s portrait graces every third boda-boda, the remarks reopened tribal fault lines, fuelling TikTok rants and WhatsApp forwards that blend grief with guarded optimism.
Gachagua’s motorcade is expected to snake through Bondo’s dusty lanes by noon, ostensibly for a development forum on irrigation schemes along Lake Victoria’s shores.
But locals smell politics: With Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza coalition eyeing Luo votes post-handshake, this feels like fence-mending amid economic gripes, inflation at 7.2% and youth joblessness at 21% in Nyanza.
“He’s coming to eat our fish and forget our feelings,” grumbled a fishmonger at Usenge Market, her knife pausing mid-slice. However, pragmatists such as youth leader Everlyne Achieng perceive positive aspects: “If his visit results in boreholes or scholarships, we will be receptive.” But Raila’s pain is our pain—no apologies, no entry.”
As rain patters on tin roofs, Bondo buzzes with what-ifs: Will Gachagua address the elephant – er, hippo – in the room? Or sidestep into self-help talk?