The Luhya community is the second most populous ethnic group in Kenya after the Kikuyu.
Due to their numerical strength, the Luhyas are a much-sought-after voting bloc in Kenyan politics. Whoever gets the lion’s share of the Mulembe vote has an upper hand in the presidential poll.
In the 2002 General Election, the community threw its weight behind the retired President Kibaki. Kibaki garnered close to 80 per cent of the total votes. Having bagged the crucial votes from Mulembe electorate, Kibaki went on to secure an unassailable lead.
When the community decided to support Raila Odinga in 2007 polls, the ODM leader gave President Kibaki a run for his money. This shows just how important the community’s factor is in Kenya’s politics. Whenever they vote as a bloc, their candidate of choice has a competitive edge.
So the big question is who will enjoy the Mulembe support? Now that the two leading political leaders Musalia Mudavadi and Moses Wetang’ula are in NASA, the team is likely to increase its vote tally in the polls.
Too bad. The luhyas take voting as betting. Muyamaa atachukua redio aende shambani angoje matokeo jioni.
True to the extent that the Mr. Odinga adds to the votes he got from last election. But even if you added them up, Mr. Kenyatta still had the requisite 50% + 1. No significant change to the equation this time round.
Now that ma DVD and Wetaa are on one side,expect Luhyas to disagree with them and vote for the other side. Others will not give a ferk. In other words predicting how a luhya will behave,bet the opposite of the side already with a luhya as front runners.
How many times will I tell you this: There’s no tribe known as the Luhya. The word did not even exist before 1950.
The Bukusus (60% of the ‘Luhya’) are as far away from the Marama and Saamia as the night is from day. The latter two don’t even circumcise men traditionally!
Ebu jaribu kuambia a Bukusu eti hajatahiri ujionee…
Sisi kama Waluhya are the most democratic tribe. Hatuna upuus ya kuvote kama bloc.
Their languages are not even mutually intelligible. Two groups of people with no mutual intelligibility in their languages cannot belong to the same tribe. How can a mzungu create a tribe, for purposes of adminitration, by herding together people in a geographic region and then 50 years after independence we refer to those people by that imaginary tribe is a manifestation of how we have failed to emancipate ourselves