Khaoya the Luyia elder and fate of death

BY  LUKE  KAPCHANGA& BERNARD KWALIA   DN/BUNGOMA      27/2/2008     KHAOYA

The  death of the Luyia elder Joseph Khaoya and his first wife , same night , while not bed ridden has  shocked the family, the community  and political fraternity.

With the country just coming from the post election violence which saw families lose spouses and children at one go, the death could not have been  peculiar.

What makes Mzee Khaoyas demise different is his position in society of the Luyia community at large and the active role he played while hosting the ODM leader Raila Odinga  some time last year.

The bold decision he took that of handing to Raila the spear and shield at Muliro gardens in Kakamega, was what provoked political observers in the region, particularly in Bungoma to wake up.

Mr. Lucas Watta, one of his closest persons  then described the decision as “ very bold and instrumental for the people”.

Mzee  Khaoya called on the Luyia and the Bukusu in particular to support Raila, saying the time predicted by the late prophet Elijah Masinde about Luyia leadership had come.

He insisted that the prediction by Masinde the legendary Dini Y a Msambwa leader about the the Luyia or Bukusu ascending to the country’s leadership through Lake Victoria was indeed now.

He urged, according to his close friends that if they supported Odinga for the presidency, and he in turn appointed Musalia Mudavadi as the vice president then chances, are that he will succeed him after serving his full time.

This argument is   what infuriated the Ford-K brigade in the district who saw Khaoya as a traitor.

The Ford-K leadership from the Bungoma countered by explaining at length , that the prophesy by  the late Masinde had already been fulfilled through the late vice president Kijana Wamalwa.

They reasoned that because Wamalwa deputized the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and later took over as the Ford-Kenya chairman then, the said leadership was achieved.

This sparked off , a series of debates as visits to the shrine of the late Masinde became a hot issue , with family supporting the ODM pentagon team to visit while Ford-K opposing.

Mr. Watta said that handing Raila the traditional instruments of  power, was to identify him as the emerging leader, and this was the expression of trust in him by the elders.

There was nothing wrong or improper in handing the shield and spear to the ODM leader, he added, because the elder was giving direction to the community to take politically.

It is the direction, which those opposed to him say may have contributed to his untimely death , together with the wife.    

Mr. Mulunda Khaoya one of the sons, who described the death as tragic said Mzee Khaoya was determined to have the Luyia community united.

“My father always talked of Luyia unity and by presenting the Shield and Spear to Odm Leader , was done on behalf of the community elders , who wanted the ODM pentagon team to have their blessings’, he said.

Kanduyi MP Mr. Alfred Khangati descried the late elder as a visionary and daring leader.

In his condolence massage,the ODM MP said the late Khaoya  was instrumental in introducing the party in Bungoma , which was considered the Ford-K stronghold.

Mr. Khangati said the his courage to present the Odm leader Raila Odinga with a shield and spear at Muliro garden in  Kakamega changed the politics of the area.

He praised the late elder for initiating meaningful development projects during his time as the MP and assistant minister, whose record has not been broken.

Mzee Khaoya is reputed to have been behind the construction and installation of Nzoia sugar factory, Sangolo Institute of Science &Technology, Mabanga Framers Trainig centre  and Bungoma prisons

The institutions remain the only meaningful developments in the greater Bungoma district  initiated during the Kenyatta administration .

However, history has it that he lost the 1974, elections to the late Dr. Fredrick Masinde when the prisons was built in Bungoma town.

The prisons was considered by the voters then as , an institution of torture and suffering for law offenders.

Mr. Khangati says, the Bukusu community  has lost a leader who had the personal initiative to defy popular believes to bring development or  unite them with other Kenyans.

Mr. Patrick Wangamati the founder chairman of the Bukusu council of Elders Asssociation,  on his side said the death of the elder together with the wife at the same time was a bad omen.

“As elders we  take  the simultaneous death of the couple suspiciously as it is rare and could be a bad omen,” he said.

Mr. Wangamati reminded the Bukusu to respect culture and their traditions , saying it is a taboo to introduce outsiders  to what holds them together.

He said as much as the dead are never blamed, but the late acted wrongly to take the ODM leaders to the shrines of the Dini Ya Msambwa leader Elijah Masinde against the wishes of the community.

This was rebuffed as misleading because traditionally couples who are very close normally die at the same time.

Mr. Muliro Kunikina an official of Trans- Nzoia branch, dismissed Mr. Wangamatis views as politically inclined and has no basis.

“All along when visits to the shrine of the late Masinde were arranged, Mzee Khaoys never personally got involved and he did not even accompany the Pentagon team as being claimed”, Mr. Kunikina added

The newly elected mayor of Bungoma Mr. Majimbo Okumu , said the loss is big for the Bukusu community , particularly when the country is at the cross roads politically.

“We were expecting to get advise and direction from such like elders, for the community not to be isolated politically”, Mr. Majimbo said.

Mzee Khaoya 77 and his wife Bethsheba 72 died on the night of 23, the man at Kenyetta national hospital while the wife at Mt.Elgon  view hospital in Bungoma town.

According to Mulunda their father traveled to Nairobi to see his personal doctor, Dr. Mac Gligeyo at Kenyatta National hospital  for routine medical check up on Wednesday last week .

Mulunda says it was him who drove the elder  to Kisumu where he boarded a plane alone, without any signs of serious sickness.

 Dr. Bulimo Khaoya , another of  his sons based in Kisii said the late Khaoya was in good spirits but the check up was normal as he was a diabetic.

As a family Dr. Bulimo explained they have an arrangement for Mzees regular medical check up to get proper treatment on time.

It was said that when he arrived at Kenyatta, his doctor recommended him for admission, and the conditions deteriorated with time.

They  said their mother  died at around 3.40 on Saturday  night  after developing  asthmatic attack.

They explained that the mother was sickly and died on arrival at the hospital.

The late Khaoya at one time served as a chief of the current day Bungoma South district before venturing in politics.

He was elected to parliament in 1966 and appointed assistant minister of agriculture in 1969.

He at time time also contested the Saboti   parliamentary seat , when the late vice president Kijana Wamalwa  opted not to run in 1989 after a petition against him.

He came to the limelight last year when he openly supported Mr.Odinga for the presidency, when his clansman Mr. Musikari Kombo the Ford-k chairman was supporting the president Kibakai.

Mr. Khaoya was the chairman of Balunda clan of which Kombo belongs, who bury the dead in a sitting position.

He is survived by 60 children and three wives Mary, Wilbroda and Florence .