By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 31 August 2026 - The battle for Ndhiwa has suddenly acquired a new intensity ahead of 2027 with the entrance of a technocrat and bureaucrat turned politician.
It is Former Education Principal Secretary Dr. Julius Ouma Jwan who has thrown his hat into the ring, setting up a potentially explosive contest with two-term incumbent Martin Peters Owino for the coveted Orange Democratic Movement ticket.
This is no ordinary challenger.
Jwan arrives with a formidable technocratic résumé. He has served as Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Education, headed the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development and lectured at university level. He also brings international exposure from his work as a World Bank consultant.
And yet, remarkably, he says he is prepared to trade the comfort and opportunities of international consultancy for the uncertainty of elective politics.
His reason is deeply personal.
“I want to give back to the community and serve them better. I think it’s the time,” Jwan says.
It is a line that could become the emotional centrepiece of his campaign.
Jwan says the community raised him from infancy to adulthood and supported his education until he reached the highest levels of his profession. He now wants to return the favour.
“I have had opportunities to serve in different capacities, but I believe the time has come to serve the people who raised me. I want to give back and serve humanity through my community,” he says.
His message is unmistakably ambitious.
He wants to win.
Not merely to contest.
Not merely to make a statement.
To win the ODM nomination and ultimately occupy the Ndhiwa seat in the National Assembly.
“I am coming to win and to serve. I have no doubt that, with the support of the people of Ndhiwa, we can do this together,” he says.
And he has already taken the campaign beyond boardrooms and international conference rooms.
On Sunday, Jwan was in Kanyadotto village, meeting residents and talking about his ambition to represent them in Parliament.
That movement to the grassroots is critical.
For all his impressive credentials, Jwan knows that Ndhiwa elections are not won on academic qualifications or international résumés.
They are won one village at a time.
That is where his battle with Owino becomes fascinating.
Owino is not a political novice. Parliament lists him as the current Ndhiwa MP and an ODM member. His political experience, public-health background and years in Parliament give him a substantial head start.
The incumbent, therefore, enters the contest with a simple political proposition: experience matters.
His supporters are already projecting confidence that he can secure another term, with recent political discussions portraying him as ready for the ODM primaries and confident of retaining the seat.
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That makes the coming contest a classic political collision.
Jwan is effectively saying: my time has come.
Owino's camp is saying: the seat is not vacant.
The fight will therefore be about more than personalities.
It will be a referendum on experience versus renewal. Technocratic expertise versus grassroots political machinery. A former senior government official with international networks versus an incumbent who has spent years building a political base inside the constituency.
Jwan's strongest weapon may ultimately be his story.
He can tell voters that he does not need politics to make a living. He already has a professional career that could take him around the world.
What he wants, he says, is something different.
Service.
“I am not coming because I have nowhere else to go. I am coming because I believe I owe something to the people who made me what I am today,” he says.
That is a powerful political proposition.
But Ndhiwa will demand proof.
Jwan must transform goodwill into votes, professional credentials into grassroots structures and his call for service into an organisation capable of defeating an incumbent.
Owino, meanwhile, must demonstrate that his record and established networks remain strong enough to withstand the Jwan wave.
The ODM nomination could consequently become the real election.
And the stakes are rising by the day.
For Jwan, it is a homecoming.
For Owino, it is a defence of territory.
For Ndhiwa voters, it is a choice between two men who are now openly declaring that they want the same prize.
One is saying it is time to give back.
The other is fighting to prove that experience still counts
The political Titanic in Ndhiwa has left port.