Former Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (SASRA) Chief Executive Officer Carilus Ademba has officially joined the race for the Karachuonyo parliamentary seat ahead of the 2027 General Election.
In a phone interview with Politicko Daily on Friday afternoon, the sacco guru confirmed he will be on the ballot and said his campaign will be anchored on socio-economic development, arguing that his public-sector and cooperative-regulation experience gives him a solid track record to deliver for the constituency. "My priority areas will include jobs and enterprise support, stronger local value chains, and practical interventions that will lift the incomes of the people of Karachuonyo over and above my core mandate of legislation and represenation." he asserted.
Ademba is widely known for his time at SASRA, where he served as CEO and often spoke publicly on sacco regulation, compliance, and governance in the deposit-taking sacco sector. He later served in the Homa Bay County government when Governor Cyprian Awiti appointed him as the County Executive Committee Member for Trade, Industrialization and Enterprises.
In 2018, he threatened to resign from the county minister post if the wanton corruption and frustration of service delivery by cartels was not addressed. He made true this threat when he quit the job in February 2019 citing the very reasons as unresolved. It was a move that painted him as a principled leader willing to walk away from power when integrity was at stake.
After his stint in the county, he proceeded with his consultancy works, often consulting for the World Bank in Uganda and other Multilateral organizations in Kenya, Tanzania and beyond.
He actively rejoined 2022 Homa Bay politics where he was part of Dr. Evans Kidero’s gubernatorial campaigns. Politicko Daily is informed that he was designated within Kidero’s apex team as the preferred running mate before the team’s plans shifted following party-ticket dynamics. Dr. Kidero ultimately ran on an Independent ticket and was cleared by IEBC with Elijah Kodo as his running mate.
Ademba then quit Kidero’s camp after Kidero failed to secure the party ticket and following talks with the then Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga, he was brought into the Azimio campaign structure to support the presidential bid from the Azimio Presidential Secretariat in Nairobi.
The Sacco guru will seek the seat on an ODM ticket, setting up what is already shaping up as a packed contest against the incumbent MP Andrew Adipo Okuome, and a growing list of aspirants positioning themselves across the constituency including former MP James Rege, Homa Bay County Assembly Clerk Day Abeka, Nairobi County Public Service Commissioner Jack Owino, former Kibiri MCA Kennedy Ondiek, Samuel Ogutu among many others.
Mr. Ademba is an alumnus of St. Mary's School Yala where he excelled and proceeded to the University of Nairobi where he studied economics. His work experience includes being the former Managing Director of Kenya Union of Savings & Credit Cooperatives (KUSSCO) where he worked for a decade before proceeding to SASRA. In 2015, he worked as the Country Director of NCBA CLUSA International before his appointment to the County Executive of Homa Bay. He has also consulted with World bank Uganda Country office.
His entry adds a technocratic, institution-building profile to a race dominated by ward-level mobilizers and familiar political networks.