The fragile truce among President William Ruto’s Nyanza political allies has violently shattered, exposing a brutal proxy war over the Migori gubernatorial seat ahead of the next general election.

While the region’s political heavyweights present a unified front on the national stage, unanimously backing the President’s development agenda and his second-term bid, a toxic local turf war is consuming the ground.

The escalating battle for the soul of Migori County burst into the open during a highly charged Suna West women’s empowerment program held at Migori Primary School.

The event rapidly devolved into a hostile arena of political insults, biblical curses, and strategic ethnic zoning.

Thorny shade

The opening salvo was fired by Suna West lawmaker Peter Masara, who turned to scripture to paint a grim picture of the county’s current executive state.

Evoking the biblical parable of the trees from the book of Judges 9, the legislator declared that Migori residents were trapped under a “leadership of thorns,” directly taking aim at the sitting Governor, Ochilo Ayacko.

The proverb warns that a thornbush brings no shelter, only fire, a metaphor Masara deployed to argue that local residents are bearing the brunt of the current county administration’s service delivery failures.

However, it was Uriri MP Mark Nyamita who turned the gathering into a nationwide talking point. Taking the podium, Nyamita delivered a blunt, uncompromising ultimatum to Governor Ayacko in their native language, warning that the electorate would ruthlessly purge any leader who fails to deliver basic infrastructure.

“Ka yath onge e hospital, to nyaka walunyi; ka pii onge, nyaka walunyi; ka ndara onge, nyaka walunyi,” Nyamita charged. (“If there is no medicine in the hospital, we must castigate you; if there is no water, we must castigate you; if there is no road, we must castigate you.”)

‘We support Ruto for deliverables, not convenience’

Shifting his gaze to national politics, the Uriri legislator made a daring, direct appeal to the Head of State.

Nyamita sought to clarify the true nature of their partnership with the ruling regime, emphasizing that their allegiance is fundamentally transaction-based rather than a product of broad-based political convenience.

“We are not supporting President William Ruto because of the broad-based government,” Nyamita clarified to the cheering crowd.

“We are supporting him because he is a working president who is actively delivering on development initiatives.”

The lawmaker then urged the President to stop wasting political capital and state resources trying to woo regional factions that remain hostile to the Kenya Kwanza administration’s overtures.

“Your Excellency, do not waste time or resources on people who are not interested in the development you are offering,” Nyamita stated.

“Direct those projects to the Nyanza region. Nyanza residents are fully behind you, they support your agenda, and they are backing your second-term bid. Bring the infrastructure here where it is actively appreciated.”

The MP pointed to ongoing national government projects in Migori, stadium modernizations, airport upgrades, and multi-million shilling road networks, as evidence that Ruto’s administration is delivering, despite Nyanza historically being an opposition stronghold.

‘We support President Ruto for deliverables, not convenience’

Governor Ayacko, however, refused to be a punching bag.

Swinging back at his detractors, the county chief explicitly advised his opponents that during this highly competitive campaign season, leaders must rise above propaganda, speak the absolute truth, and lay bare their actual track records to the electorate.

Ayacko targeted the constant rhetoric Nyamita has been propagating regarding a total lack of supplies in local healthcare facilities. To systematically dismantle the MP’s claims, the Governor pointed to a specific video clip that recently went viral, where a disgruntled resident openly rebuked Nyamita’s narrative, dismissing the claim that county hospitals are completely out of medication.

Ayacko used the local clip to expose what he characterized as a manufactured crisis, calling on his challengers to engage in honest campaigning.

Ayacko also questioned the crowd on whether they would allow a leader from the “sugar belt” region to govern Migori once his second term concludes.

The “sugar belt” card is bound to trigger intense regional zoning debates.

Migori’s pioneer governor, Okoth Obado, hails from the sugar belt; Ayacko himself comes from the region; and Nyamita, who is actively gunning for the seat, also hails from the same sugar belt zone.

The Governor then shifted his gaze to national history, blaming politics of division and ethnic hatred for freezing out progressive leaders.

Pointing fingers at the Mount Kenya region, Ayacko accused them of historical voting patterns driven by “bad hearts” toward opposition veteran Raila Odinga. He cited a recent high-stakes by-election in Ol Kalou Constituency as an example of divisive, hostile politics that he claimed was now being targeted at President Ruto.

Adding a complex ethnic twist to the unfolding drama, Kuria East MP Maisori Kitayama took to the microphone and broke into the native Kuria language.

Kitayama strictly rallied his community to remain fiercely loyal to their political pact of supporting Suna West lawmaker Peter Masara.

Political analysts argue that Kitayama’s deliberate retreat into his mother tongue was a calculated tactical move.

By avoiding English or Kiswahili, the lawmaker was able to deliver raw, highly targeted ethnic messaging to solidify a secure Kuria voting bloc, safely shielded from the immediate scrutiny of a wider, non-Kuria audience.

The unfolding drama in Migori highlights a classic political dilemma: national alignment masking a brutal local civil war.

The three political “big elephants” eyeing the governor’s mansion are completely uniform in their language when endorsing President Ruto. Yet, the moment the conversation shifts to local ground, the consensus completely evaporates.

They remain utterly divided on who should hold the keys to the Migori county government house, setting the stage for one of the most explosive, high-stakes local elections in Nyanza’s recent history.