Lawyer Gideon Nyambati elected Chairman LSK south west branch, to succeed Ochoki who served for two terms

By Elizabeth Angira

Worth Noting:

• The outgoing chairman Mr Ochoki congratulated his successor Nyambati for winning the elections and asked him to serve the office with diligence and loyalty.
• “Our term has come to an end ,we wish the incoming office to continue to do what we have been doing in the office ,we have not been confrontational with members of the judiciary, ordinary branches deal with matters of welfare and practice,”Said Ochoki.
• While serving as a chairman, Ochoki said his achievement was working so well with the judiciary and some of his members were appointed as judges and magistrates such as Esther Asati Justice Ogutu and two or three others.

Lawyer Gideon Nyambati is the new chairman elect of the law society of Kenya south west branch.

Mr Nyambati will now succeed Wilkins Ochoki who served as a chairman of Law Society of Kenya South West branch which serves Kisii, Nyamira, Migori and Homa bay for two terms in office.

In an election held on Wednesday 27 Nyambati defeated his competitors and garnered 111votes.

His closest competitor Odhiambo Kanyangi got 54 while the third runners up Humphrey Mageto got two votes.

Ms Winnie Mireri was elected as the vice chair with 124 votes, Polycarp Maroko elected as the secretary general with 90 votes,Dorah Gogi as a treasurer with 97 votes and Herman Bunde as the deputy organizing secretary with 74 votes.

Nyambati will serve the society for the next two years.

The outgoing chairman Mr Ochoki congratulated his successor Nyambati for winning the elections and asked him to serve the office with diligence and loyalty.

“Our term has come to an end ,we wish the incoming office to continue to do what we have been doing in the office ,we have not been confrontational with members of the judiciary, ordinary branches deal with matters of welfare and practice,”Said Ochoki.

While serving as a chairman, Ochoki said his achievement was working so well with the judiciary and some of his members were appointed as judges and magistrates such as Esther Asati Justice Ogutu and two or three others.

“Our second term was challenging because this is the time we had COVID-19,we managed to navigate through E-filing and virtual courts and we had a good relationship with members and even the county governments,” said Ochoki.

Mr Ochoki said the saddest moments while in office were when the branch lost colleagues.

“Loosing a hard-working colleague was a challenge to us, to fill for that gap is not an easier thing,”he said.

The outgoing chairman said they are currently facing shortage of magistrates and Judges in Both Kisii and Nyamira Counties and wish the incoming office to address this .

Mr Ben Gichana outgoing treasurer congratulated the outgoing officials for serving the branch well and welcomed the incoming officers to serve with loyalty .

The Chairman elect Mr Nyambati thanked the members who turned out and voted for him and the new council which takes office in the next two years.

Nyambati said with the challenges of backlog of cases due to Covid-19 and also many of the members of the community were unable to access virtual courts.

According to him the council will also address the issue of shortage of Judges in Nyamira and Kisii Counties.

“With the new council, we are ready to serve our members and run the office from the previous regime,” said Nyambati.