Nicholas Gumbo had established himself as one of the finest politicians from ODM party leader Raila Odinga’s Luo Nyanza backyard. But in 2017, he made a big political gamble that is threatening to send him into oblivion.
At 42 years, Gumbo announced his arrival into the murky world of politics when he trounced a sitting cabinet minister to win the Rarieda MP seat during the 2007 general election.
Having served as an MP for only term, Raphael Tuju was sent packing by this new sheriff in town.
Gumbo would immediately become one of the finest legislators and won Raila’s trust.
During the 2013 general election, he was easily re-elected for a second straight term in Parliament. But in 2017, Gumbo miscalculated his political steps when he challenged the then Siaya County Governor Cornel Rasanga to the chagrin of the ODM top brass. He lost. And from there, the former legislator is a pale shadow of his former self.
In 2022, he unsuccessfully ran for the Siaya County Governor position, losing to ODM’s James Orengo.
Soon after that defeat, he gravitated to the President William Ruto axis. Initially, things were promising for him as he was appointed as Chief Administrative Secretary. But after the High Court ruling that declared the position as unconstitutional, Gumbo has been languishing in the cold.
By Nairobi