Luo elders welcomed Sakaja as an adopted son during his visit to Kisumu.
Luo cultural leader Ker Randa welcomed the Nairobi governor as an adopted son and urged community support ahead of the 2027 election.
Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has received a blessing from Luo elders during a meeting in Kisumu. The elders welcomed him as an adopted son of the community and named him Ochieng Ondugi Randa.
Luo cultural leader Ker Randa also urged the community to support Sakaja’s bid for a second term. He linked that appeal to the governor’s close association with the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
Sakaja receives blessing during invited visit
Sakaja travelled to Kisumu at the invitation of the Luo Council of Elders. They had invited him during the burial of the wife of late former Homa Bay Senator Otieno Kajwang.
Members of his County Cabinet and several Members of the County Assembly accompanied him. During the meeting, Ker and other elders also pledged to visit the governor in Nairobi in the coming days.
Earlier, Sakaja paid a courtesy call on Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o, who welcomed him and his delegation. Nyong’o described the visit as historic, saying it marked the first courtesy visit by a sitting Nairobi governor to Kisumu.
ODM move ahead of the 2027 election
The elders’ blessing came barely a week after Sakaja joined the Orange Democratic Movement ahead of the 2027 gubernatorial contest. He moved to ODM from the United Democratic Alliance.
However, Sakaja maintained that the switch did not signal a break with the existing national political arrangement. He said both parties belonged to the broad-based government and identified President William Ruto as their shared presidential candidate.
To explain the move, Sakaja compared changing parties to moving between rooms within the same house. His explanation placed the switch within the cooperation between ODM and UDA.
Following his entry into ODM, Sakaja also received party leader Oburu Oginga’s blessing. He later visited Ambassador Mama Ida Odinga, extending his engagement with the party leadership and the Odinga family.
