Meet Hon Misachi, the Politician in Kisumu who has stayed in politics for 40 years due to perseverance and resilience
By Dickson Odhiambo
March 26, 2021
Meet Hon Misachi, the Politician in Kisumu who has stayed in politics for 40 years due to perseverance and resilience
Kisumu City has been an epicenter for politics in the entire Nyanza region in Kenya for a very long time.
In this Lake side City where politics has been a male dominated affair since time immemorial, one politician, Honorable Prisca Auma Misachi has stood out steadily for nearly 40 years since 1983 when she joined politics.
Born 72 years ago within Uyoma area in Siaya County, Misachi grew up in Nairobi where she stayed with her family and also had a chance to stay with one of her relatives Thomas Joseph Odhiambo Mboya popularly known as Tom Mboya former Minister for Economic Planning and National Development in the post independent Kenya. Mboya died at the age of 39 on July 5, 1969 after an assassin gunned him down in one of the streets in Nairobi.
Misachi’s dad worked in Nairobi as a tailor for a long period.
For Misachi, it was during her stay in Nairobi with Mboya that she started to learn politics at an early age because she used to witness how Mboya was handling members of the public who used to come seeking help from him.
She says while staying with Mboya, he managed to take her to Kianda secretarial college in Nairobi.
“I approached Mboya to take me to a college which he did and I studied secretarial for two years,” Misachi says.
After the College, Misachi was employed in the Ministry of Economic planning and National Development and worked as a receptionist at the late Minister Tom Mboya’s office around 1965 where she worked for one and half years before being transferred to Kisumu.
In Kisumu, Misachi says she worked at the then newly established Nyanza Provincial Planning office as a copy typist in the office of the Provincial Planning Officer’s office around 1968, adding that a Mr. Mbindyo was the first Nyanza Provincial Planning Officer posted there when the office was established.
She adds that after working at the Nyanza Provincial Planning office for two years, she moved to the Kenya Commercial Bank in 1971 where she worked as a typist at the Bills Department.
After working at the Bank for five years, she joined the British American Tobacco {BAT} Kenya Limited as a secretary to the Divisional Marketing Manager the late B. J Onyango.
“I was then taken back to Kianda College for a refresher secretarial Course which BAT sponsored for one year. I came back and worked with BAT until 1983 when I joined politics,” Misachi further says.
Misachi says after making a decision to join politics, she was not planning to quit her job at BAT but the management decided that with her wanting to join politics, it was not going to be easy handling her job.
“I was not joining politics so as to leave my job as a secretary with BAT but I was forced out of the job because they said as a secretary who handles so much sensitive documents, it was not good for a politician to be a secretary and that was how I was dismissed from my job,” she says.
After her dismissal from the job, Misachi says she moved to court to challenge such a decision and it attracted a long court battle, adding that she left the job, let it go and joined politics in 1983 during the snap General Election where she was elected to represent Stadium ward in Kisumu.
According to Misachi, this was a painful decision she made but stuck with it to date, adding that she had to sacrifice her job to join politics.
“In Nairobi then there was a councilor serving and was also employed working with the BAT and I thought I was going to be treated the same way but this was not the case at all,” Misachi says
She says what made her to join politics is through motivation from the late Cabinet Minister Tom Mboya who had ample time to listen and solve some problems that were being presented to him every time.
“I was really influenced by Tom Mboya with the way he was helping not only his native Nyanza region but people from all walks of life especially on uplifting them educational wise among on other issues. This I got when I worked with him at his office,” she says.
Misachi says as a politician, one can be in a position to hear problems facing members of the public and be in authority to offer help, adding that this has been a pillar in her political career spanning nearly four decades.
What Misachi wanted to change at the time she joined politics was to empower more women to a level where they could be self-reliance during those early years.
Misachi says as a female , it was not easy for her to join politics since within the Community women then were viewed as ‘lesser human’ hence were not regarded, adding that she now believe this myth has been proved wrong.
She says she is a go getter and a grass root leader coupled with her ever availability to the electorates at all time, adding that many people believe that she is someone who can be counted on.
“After my Election as the Councilor on a Kanu Ticket, I embarked on working with women and youth groups and indeed I believe that I achieved this when I was elected and served my first term in office.
She says after being elected as Councilor, she also contested for the position of Kisumu Mayor but missed it by a whisker after being trounced by her closest challenger Dere Omollo with only a vote, adding that after this she had to persevere for more than 15 years to clinch the seat of the now defunct Kisumu Municipal Council Mayor in 2004.
“I was defeated with only one vote but I did not lose hope and became optimistic that one day I would serve as the Mayor of Kisumu, a dream I realized after more than 15 years,” she adds.
During the 1992 Multi party general Elections, Misachi says she dropped off and did not recapture her seat on a Kanu Party Ticket in an area that was Opposition party dominated but did not lose hope until the year 2002 when on the National Rainbow Coalition{NARC} she recaptured the seat.
She served as the Mayor of Kisumu Municipality for one term from 2004 to 2007 after which nominated Councilor Sam Okello took over after the 2007 General Elections and became the last Mayor of the Lake side City until 2013 when devolve system of Governance was ushered in following the General elections held on March 4, 2013 under the new Constitution that was promulgated in the year 2010.
“When I was the Mayor of Kisumu, we had no fire engine within the City as well as having a grader and we managed to have these during my tenure and the Ministry of Local Government really helped us after talking to the Minister then,” she says
She also says during her tenure the peri- urban roads within
the Municipality were opened up and to date they still exists.
In the year 2013 polls, she was elected as a Member of the County Assembly on an Orange Democratic Movement {ODM} Party representing Kaloleni/Shauri Moyo ward that was created when Stadium ward was merged with Kibuye ward.
She recaptured the seat during the 2017 General Elections and became among the only three re-elected MCAs out of 35 in Kisumu County Assembly after which she was also elected by Colleagues to serve as a chief whip of the Majority party where she ensures that the MCAs are strictly adhering to house standing orders as well as whipping ODM Party members to toe the party’s line.
Misachi says she does not regret joining politics since it has come with a lot of exposure, adding that it has made her interact, worked with and for many people including her electorates since 1983 when she joined the political arena.
“As a politician, I have learnt a lot because people come to me with very grave problems and you must try to solve them since people believe you can help them solve such problems.
She says women representation at the County Assemblies within the country have tremendously increased unlike in the year 2013, adding that at the County Assembly of Kisumu six women have now been elected as Members of the County Assembly unlike the year 2013 when they were only about three.
Misachi says she has helped in mentoring so many people including young women who want to join politics by urging them that it is not only meant to be for the males alone.
“The people I have helped to mentor does not necessarily need to politicians. Some have ventured into other professions like there are two about five people both males and females I mentored and joined other professions after I supported their education in colleges,” she further says.
She says politics is not such a rough game as many people believe it to be if one knows how to moderate and play it.
“If you know you are a woman and want to engage in politics first check the background if you have the support of your spouse, your children and even the community. Then the community will be like a shield to those people who would want to throw insults at you and will be told off but you can’t do this alone until you get some people to be at your back to get such support,” Misachi further adds.
The Member of the County Assembly opines that perseverance really helps a lot in politics and politics is for the mature minds both to the young and the old, adding that one must be fully focused on what he wants to do.
On the issue being nicknamed “Mugabe”, she says she has been in politics for long nearly 40 years, adding that she believes people gave her the name equating her with the former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe who was re-elected repeatedly.
“Alternatively, this was an abusive term they coined to scold me but I adopted the name and this neutralize everything,” she adds.
Misachi says on the issue contesting a political seat during next year’s polls, she will discuss it when the right time comes.
“Let us meet in June next year and we talk more about it but for now I still remain a politician,” she concludes.
Former Member of the County Assembly of Kisumu representing Central Kisumu ward Pamela Apondi Omino popularly known as Pam Jos who worked with Misachi at the defunct Municipal Council of Kisumu describes her as a good mentor indeed.
Omino who also served as a Councilor at the Municipality for a period of fifteen years owe some of her achievement in politics to Misachi whom she has described as her mentor.
“When I was elected as a councilor in 1997 to represent Aerodrome ward, Prisca Misachi had already served as a councilor and I consulted her a lot on matters of politics and her pieces of advice has been very good to me,” Omino says.
Omino describes Misachi as a real go getter whom once set her eyes on something then she must accomplish it without fail.
Omino remembers vividly during the Mayoral elections in 2004 which Misachi contested and won as being one of the toughest contest since they were the only two elected female councilors against about 20 male councilors.
“We had to convince our male counterparts to vote in Prisca Misachi as the Mayor but this was not very easy but in the long end we carried the day as Misachi was elected as a Mayor,” Omino adds.
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