This archive report was first published on 14 January 2020.
On December 18, 2019, a meeting was held at the Kiikalloh Grand Resort in Machakos county, which has left the Kuria community in Migori county divided.
The meeting, sponsored by Deputy President William Ruto, aimed to plan the political future of the community and push for their own county in the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) referendum.
However, a section of the community claims that they were sidelined from the talks, allegedly due to their perceived allegiance to a different camp in President Uhuru Kenyatta's succession in 2022.
According to reports, the ODM party is trying to win the community's support by dangling the position of deputy governor, currently held by Nelson Marwa, who is second to Governor Okoth Obando.
As a countermeasure to the Ruto wave, ODM leader Raila Odinga wants the Migori governorship to be rotational, with the Kuria community producing the next governor and the Luo community producing the deputy.
The move is seen as a way to counter the Kuria claims that devolution has failed to cure marginalization of minority populations and push for a Kuria county.
