Teso North MP Oku Kaunya has officially launched his re-election
campaign on an Orange Democratic Movement party ticket after ditching
the Amani National Congress party that he used in 2017.
Addressing residents and a host of aspirants allied to Azimio la Umoja
coalition at his Kakemer home Wednesday, Kaunya said he needed another term to be
able to complete the projects he initiated in the last five years.
“When I was campaigning in 2017, I made a pledge to undertake certain
initiatives to improve the socio-economic well-being of our community.
“Among them was to empower the community through education so that
our children go to school and train as engineers, doctors, lawyers and
other professionals like it are happening in other communities. My vision was to eradicate the high poverty levels in the community through education,” he said.
Kaunya said some of the current initiatives he was implementing
through the National Government Constituency Development Fund were half
way complete and that is why he is seeking reelection.
“For instance, my dream target was train 100 students in the
fields of medicine, law and engineering in my first term. So far, I
have managed 41 students. If you re-elect me, my target will now be 150 students. I want each sub location to have an engineer, a doctor and a lawyer.”
He said in his second term, he would strive to complete various colleges
including the National Youth Service training college in Malaba, Kenya
Technical Teachers college at Akiriamet, and the Kenya Highway and
Building Engineering at Katakwa. “All these are targeted at uplifting our community,” he noted.
With Kaunya officially launching his second term bid, the Teso North
Parliamentary contest is now a two-horse-race between him and Lawi
Mamai who decamped to the DAP-Kenya party after the ODM leader Raila
Odinga endorsed the former recently at a rally in Malaba town.
Kaunya and Mamai are the only two race contenders who have publicly
declared interest in the Teso North MP’s seat.
The duo had been expected to battle it out in the ODM party
nominations, but ODM leader Raila Odinga’s open declaration on March
25 that he supports Kaunya when he toured Teso North politically threw
Mamai off-balance.
During the declaration, Raila said he had known Kaunya for long and
they have been close friends hence urged residents to back his second
term bid to represent the border constituency.
Anglican Church Bishop John Okude prays for Teso North MP Oku Kaunya
(kneeling-5th) during the official launch of his re-election campaign
at his Kakemer home
The endorsement did not go down well with Mamai and his supporters
forcing him to ditch ODM-which he used in 2017 and join DAP-K as he
affirmed his readiness to battle it out with Kaunya.