Ngariam County is witnessing a new kind of political entrant, one who once monitored aircraft safety at cruising altitudes, and now trudges through dusty village paths with a vision to lift his homeland.
Eidit John Baptist (JB), a seasoned aircraft engineer with a Master’s in Aircraft Maintenance Engineering, has officially joined the race to unseat incumbent MP and State Minister for Sports, Peter Ogwang, in the 2026 elections.
Eidit, who boasts over a decade in international aviation safety and systems management, is not your typical candidate.
With a deeply personal slogan “Restoring Hope. Building Prosperity. Empowering Generations”, he has launched a bold 10-year Strategic Development Agenda (2025–2035) that promises a transformation grounded in practical expertise, innovation, and community-driven leadership.
“I have flown across continents, but I never stopped dreaming about Ngariam,” he shared at a village consultative meeting. “It’s time to bring back hope, not just handouts.”
Central to Eidit’s agenda is an economic revival built on youth agribusiness hubs and vocational skilling.
He envisions every sub-county equipped with greenhouses, irrigation systems, and demo farms to provide practical, funded opportunities for young people.
“This isn’t about giving out money,” he said. “It’s about skilling, tooling, and mentoring our youth into job creators.”
Ngariam’s struggling health system is another priority. Eidit promises to upgrade Health Centre IIs to IIIs and IVs, establish maternity wards, and deploy mobile clinics to serve hard-to-reach communities.
In education, his plan includes equipping every parish with at least one solid primary and secondary school, ICT labs, and libraries.
Vocational centers will teach modern skills like drone operation, tailoring, carpentry, and mechanics.
Among Eidit’s more audacious proposals is the ‘Wings of Hope’ aviation awareness initiative, aimed at inspiring students toward careers in aviation and aerospace.
He’s also exploring the development of a rural airstrip to aid in logistics, medical evacuation, and agro-tourism.
“A child from Okulonyo or Palam can be a pilot. We just need to open the skies of possibility,” Eidit noted.
Eidit’s agenda also includes land justice desks to resolve disputes, paddocking and vaccination programs for livestock, and a proposed livestock insurance scheme.
“I know what it means to walk miles herding cattle. I am not guessing people’s problems—I have lived them.”
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