DNK International BY HENRY IMBACHILA
The stars of politics have always aligned in favour of Bungoma Governor Kenneth Makelo Lusaka since making his political debut way back in 2013.
With more than 10 years before he could reach his official retirement age, Lusaka quit the public service in 2012 at the age of 48 years to plunge into the unpredictable waters of politics.
In spite of a see-saw of hitches and setbacks like losing a crucial election and close family members along the way, the going has generally been a smooth sail for the son of a cannon mother and teacher father.
Three weeks ago, President William Ruto tossed a most challenging assignment to the former provincial administrator.
Out of the blues – but not entirely surprising – the President baffled one and all when he picked Lusaka to head the Kenya Kwanza campaigns ahead of the 2027 General -Election.
Few would have expected Lusaka to be handed that task, given that there are more experienced and influential politicians from the region like Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula, Co-operatives Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya and the Secretary-General of the Central Organisation of Trade Unions (COTU) Francis Atwoli.
It is not clear whether Ruto consulted the other senior leaders from the Mulembe Nation before appointing Lusaka to co-ordinate the Kenya Kwanza Alliance pre-election campaigns.
Which us why questions are shuttling in the air as to whether Lusaka will be able to hack it and convince voters in the personalised region to solidly stick their necks out in support of Ruto’s re-election bid.
However, what is clear is that Mudavadi and Atwoli have since extended their goodwill to the Bungoma Governor in his new assignment.
Atwoli hosted Lusaka and some members of his team a fortnight ago at his Kitengela home in Kajiado county while Mudavadi hosted the Deputy Governor of Kakamega Ayub Savula at his ministry’s offices at Kenya Railways headquarters and through whom he delivered his salutations and felicitations to the co-ordinating team of which the immediate former Lugari MP is the vice-chairperson.
Other members of the group are Vihiga County Woman Representative Dr Beatrice Adagala and Teso North MP Mary Emase.
Lusaka is serving his second and last term as Governor.
The job bestowed on him by the President is a Herculean one. It is a make-or-bteak affair for him.
Reason why the name of the former long-serving civil servant is on the lips of every other person in every other homestead in the Luhyia-inhabited counties of Kakamega, Bungoma, Busia and Vihiga Trans-Nzoia as well as in Nairobi and the former Nyanza county.
These electoral maps have over the years voted for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), a political outfit knitted by former Prime Minister, the late Raila Odinga.
During the 2022 General-Election, the electorate in the Mulembe Nation overwhelmingly voted for the Azimio La Umoja coalition whose candidate was Raila.
Only Lusaka’s native Bungoma county gave Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza a 55% endorsement vote, a feat that is attributed to the combined efforts of Lusaka and Wetangula who is the Party Leader of Ford Kenya, the most influential political ensemble in the county and the neighbouring Trans-Nzoia.
In the countdown to the 2022 General-Election, the Amani National Congress (ANC) party, then led by Mudavadi was the most acknowledged political organ in the region.
However, the party has since wound up and merged with President Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), leaving a huge membership vacuum in the area.
The death of ANC have birth to new political groupings like the Democratic Action Party of Kenya (DAP-K) led by former Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa and deputised by Trans-Nzoia Governor George Natembeya as well as the Democratic National Alliance (DNA) party led by chairman Geoffrey Kanoti and Secretary -General Dr. Barrack Muluka.
In addition to ODM, both DAP-K and DNA have to some extent eaten into the void left by ANC.
Governor Lusaka is the person expected to successfully navigate around the intricate political terrain of Western Kenya with a view to delivering the region’s vote to Ruto’s presidential candidacy next year.
From winning back the defectors from ANC and wooing the ODM adherents to securing the unwavering support of seasoned players Mudavadi, Wetangula and Atwoli as well as warding off the expansion of DAP-K and DNA is Lusaka has his in-tray full to the brim.
As to weather he will be up to the task remains to be seen.
Persons who have worked closely with the Bungoma Governor for a considerable time tip him to succeed where his seniors have previously failed.
They point to some of the seemingly tricky challenges which he had surmount without much fuss.
Lawyer Sudi Wandabusi who served as Lusaka’s personal assistant during the latter’s first stint as the gubernatorial supremo says his former boss is a never-say-die executor of assignments.
Sudi whose appointment as Cabinet Administrative Secretary (CAS) was cut short in 2023 by a court ruling says Lusaka is not one to decline or be outweighed by assignments of whatever nature.
“Lusaka does not believe in defeat. He is very reflective and consultative in his manner of doing things. He never says No. He never gives up. He only delivers,” says Sudi who is currently the chairperson of the Kenya Film Commission.
Another former aide, Daniel Psirmoi proffers that Lusaka is a results-oruented deliverer of service who talks less but works a lot in the face of a daunting task.
Psirmoi who served as Lusaka’s Director of Communications when the Governor served as Speaker of the Senate in 2017-22.
Says Psirmoi who presently works at Kenya’s Parliament: “That is one person who believes in nothing but success. He has been a civil servant all his life. He has the requisite negotiating skills to conquer any challenges in his pathway. I saw him for very many times go past very difficult situations in the Senate. He is not one to lose a duel. I am certain he will fully meet the expectations of those who have entrusted him with that mandate. He surely will not let them down.”
Lusaka Attended Friends’ School Kamusinga and Kibabii High School in Bungoma county before joining University of Nairobi where he graduated in 1988: and joined the Civil Service right away.
He started his career in the provincial administration as a District Officer and rose to become a District Commissioner in Kajiado and Murang’a counties before being promoted to the position of Provincial Secretary and later on Permanent Secretary for Livestock Development.
He quit Government in 2012 to contest on a New Ford Kenya party ticket the Bungoma Governorship, which he won on his first attempt.
His re-election bid in 2017 on a Jubilee Party banner hit a wall as he lost to Wycliffe Wangamati of Ford Kenya.
However, then Deputy President William Ruto proposed him for the position Senate Speaker, a suggestion that then President Uhuru Kenyatta bought into and nominated him to the post which he secured following approval by lawmakers.
He returned to Bungoma in 2022 to seek the electorate’s mandate to represent them again as their Governor, an approval he easily obtained.
The co-ordination of Kenya Kwanza campaigns in Western Kenya is a multi-facetef assignment.
It, in ways far more than one, will determine his locus in the post-2027 political period, especially if President Ruto retains the State House tenancy.
The lingering question, however, remains: Will he hack it?
[DNK-International@January 31,2026]
