Larry Mboga, a Kenyan immigrant living in the United States is set to be sworn in as a member of the Eau Clair Council in the state of Wisconsin after he won the city elections under the Democratic Party.
Mboga garnered 6,674 votes in the election and will be a member of an 11-person council and will serve for a period of three months beginning April 2022.
Welcoming his new role, he revealed that his quest to become part of the city's leadership was motivated by the demise of George Floyd, who lost his life in the hands of law enforcement agencies on May 25, 2020.
Mboga hopes to create a working relationship between the residents of Eau Clair and law enforcement agencies, ensure that residents have access to affordable housing and create employment opportunities for youth in the area
"We only meet police when there’s trouble, bad times. Why can’t we meet them in good times? In fact, from there we’ve had a walk in the park with them, barbeque with them, play soccer with them.”
“I hope as a city with my coworkers or co-councilmen, we can work away, so we can have affordable houses for everybody," he added.
Mboga was elected alongside senior lab technician Joshua Miller and 23-year old Charlie Johnson. The positions fell vacant after members David Klinkhammer, Catherine Emmanuel and John Lor opted out of re-election to the council.
The three will join Kate Beaton, Roderick Jones, Emily Berge, Terry Weld, Emily Anderson, Jill Christopherson, Andrew Werthman and Jeremy Gragert.
Notably, the lections of the other six seats; the presidency and five aldermanic district seats will be held in other years.
Prior to his election, he served as an athletics coach at the Chippewa High School, assisting in training students in cross county, track and field events. He migrated from Kenya 27 years ago in a bid to look for better opportunities.
Mboga adds to the list of Kenyans who have won elective positions abroad. He joins Lucy Gichuhi who served as a Senator in Australia between 2017 and 2019.
She was declared the winner of the South Australia senatorial election after her opponent Bob Day was disqualified following the collapse of his construction business and for conflict of interest. The Australian Electoral Commission handed her the victory under a Family First Party ticket.
