For a seat that was carved out of the greater Vihiga to save the Mudavadi family from the formidable Bahati Semo, Sabatia will certainly be a centre of drama in Western province as Musalia Mudavadi tries to recapture the seat he lost to the little known Rev Moses Akaranga in 2002 in the Narc euphoria.
Musalia lost the seat after re-defecting to Kanu on the promise that Moi would make him the vice president. True to his word, Moi made him his deputy but he only lasted for three months in that position. With the decision to rejoin Kanu against the tide in the province, he lost the prominence that his father had enjoyed in Luhya politics.
In the coming election, Musalia will be trying to kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand, he will be trying to win back the seat from Akaranga who is the Minister for State, Public Service. Akaranga is one of the renegade MPs that have broken with the party chief, Musikari Kombo, to form the New Ford Kenya party. Musalia will also be trying to win back the mantle of Luhya leadership which is a more daunting task than regaining his seat.
Although Musalia has projected himself as the key pointman for ODM Kenya in Western province, he has not been able to consolidate the community in the party. Musalia's political fortunes depend on the direction that the Luhya unity drive takes and how things turn out in ODM-Kenya presidential nominations.
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