Karachuonyo’s political mood is shifting again, with former two-term MP Eng. James Rege quietly weighing a return to the ballot nearly two decades after he first held the seat. Eng. Rege who has largely stayed away from frontline politics while pursuing business interests in the United States, made a widely watched homecoming in December that has since reignited chatter across the constituency and beyond.
Politicko Daily has established that Rege’s first major stop was on December 1, when he visited Kango Ka Jaramogi in Bondo, a symbolic pilgrimage that immediately drew attention from ODM grassroots networks and local political watchers. Those close to him describe it as a respect visit, but the timing and optics have been read by many as an early signal that the former MP is reconnecting with the region’s political nerve centre.
Sources also told Politicko Daily that during the same period, Rege paid a condolence visit to Mama Ida Odinga at her Karen home in Nairobi, where they are neighbours. While the meeting was presented as condolences, insiders say it remains unclear whether the conversation also touched on the emerging succession calculations for 2027, especially at a time when Nyanza’s political formations are already beginning to take shape behind the scenes.
From Nairobi, Rege proceeded to Kisumu where he hosted a meeting at his home with allies and ground operatives, including former councillors and longtime mobilisers. Briefed sources say the discussions centred on rebuilding contact with old networks and taking stock of Karachuonyo’s current dynamics. It is within this circle that one move has stood out as particularly consequential for his ground game.
Rege is said to have donated Sh500,000 to the Karachuonyo former councillors’ welfare group, a contribution that has since electrified a bloc that still holds influence in the constituency’s informal political machinery. Multiple local leaders told Politicko Daily the donation has had an immediate ripple effect, with the former councillors reportedly mentioning him in virtually every gathering they attend, helping to keep his name circulating at the grassroots long after he has returned to the US.
His homecoming then took on a more public tone. Rege led a procession to Kendu Bay where he addressed residents from the sunroof of his vehicle, greeting them and offering Christmas wishes and gifts. He later proceeded to Kanjira, his home area, where he mingled with locals and distributed Christmas packages, gestures residents interpreted as both seasonal goodwill and a deliberate reintroduction. When pressed on whether the activities amounted to early campaigning, he maintained that there was nothing unusual about sharing with his people.
He later crossed to Ndhiwa to visit his brother and received a warm public reception there as well, a circuit that has only widened speculation that the former MP was not simply visiting, but actively testing the waters and rebuilding political warmth across the larger Homa Bay neighbourhood.
MP, Senate, or a Wider Play
For weeks, the talk on the ground had also placed Rege among names being floated for the Homa Bay governorship contest. Politicko Daily, however, has been informed by sources familiar with the engagements around him that his strongest consideration is a return to the Karachuonyo parliamentary seat, with allies framing the pitch around completing projects he started years ago and closing his public record with a more deliberate legacy including a multi-billion power plant in Homa Hills, tarmacking more roads and setting a university in the constituency.
Even so, his camp appears split. A section of his allies is urging him to pursue the Senate seat instead, arguing it would offer a countywide platform and a strategic perch in the upper House, especially for a technocrat with diaspora exposure and a national network. Others believe an MP race offers a clearer, more immediate pathway back into elective power, but acknowledge it would come with a tougher, more localised contest.
When Politicko Daily sought his comment on the growing talk, Rege declined to be drawn into early declarations and told this writer that it was too early to comment on 2027 politics.
He has since flown back to the United States and is expected to return in March, when insiders believe he will make a final decision on his next political course.