INDEPENDENT Assembly candidate Elly Omondi Odhiambo is running on a platform of raising the minimum wage as well as offering a voice for all citizens of South Belfast, regardless of background or community.

Elly moved to the UK from Kenya during the John Major years, studying for a BA in Political Science and Government at the University of East London. Moving to Ireland in the early 2000s, Elly studied at Magee in Derry and also worked in the city for many years as a researcher, lecturer, playwright, activist and community support worker. He was a columnist for the Londonderry Sentinel before beginning his weekly column for the Belfast Media Group in 2019.

Elly’s 2010 play, ‘Did You Come by Boat?’, was inspired by comments he received while working in Derry from a colleague, and he used the experiences to portray what life was like as an immigrant from Africa. As a community worker Elly was also an advisor for Derry during its successful bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2013.

Elly is a strong supporter of the Good Friday Agreement, and says that while there can be some issues with it, it has been a positive development which has brought about great transformation.

“For me, the stability and peace in this country is because of that agreement, and I bear it in mind whilst running in South Belfast," he said. "I deeply respect the framework it has given for Northern Ireland to evolve.”

Knocking on doors in South Belfast, Elly has found the biggest worry to be the cost-of-living crisis. He says there's also anger at the salaries elected representatives are receiving and pointed at the recent Stormont wage rise which was voted in by MLAs.

“I would like to see the salaries of MLAs to be frozen for a number of years, because the wages in Stormont do not reflect what people in the community are earning. I would also like to increase the minimum wage, and this is a big issue. I would like to see Stormont have more control over setting the minimum wage, and to see it increase to £18 an hour, with the government helping employers and working with them to implement this. Laws will also need to be passed to protect the public from high costs in retail and services, and to work with businesses to ensure they respect employment laws and workers' rights.”

Another issue at the top of Elly’s agenda is transport in South Belfast. He wants to see improvements made to current routes, as well as expanding other routes and developing new ones.

“People tell me about the difficulties getting to other parts of Belfast. For instance, to get to East Belfast from South Belfast, you have to go into the city centre, change, and get another bus going to East Belfast. There are similar connections like this throughout the city that also don’t make sense, so I would like to see these changed, to make public transport more streamlined and easier for people to use. Early morning and late night transport needs to be improved and expanded, and also Sunday transport, which should run the same as any other day of the week.”

Facilitating improvements and expansion to public transport will also lead to greener outcomes, says Elly, who is prioritising the environment. Mr Odhiambo said: “I believe at the moment people are too busy having arguments about the environment and talking about what can we do over 20 to 30 years, but these policies need to be in place to protect the environment now, and there needs to be drastic measures to protect the environment from further damage and to safeguard it for future generations.”

As one of the most diverse parts of Ireland, South Belfast has been at the forefront of welcoming new communities. But Elly believes more needs to be done to ensure new arrivals are welcomed and treated fairly.

“The next biggest group of people arriving will be people from Ukraine, due to the war with Russia, and recently the latest community here has been Eritreans from East Africa. Unfortunately we have seen examples of racism, and protections need to be put in place to deal with racism. The laws in Northern Ireland regarding racist attacks are quite flimsy, and I was myself attacked in the supermarket. The police said they couldn’t do much, as the perpetrator had not been in trouble before, and even though there were witnesses, it would be my word against his and through community resolution I would be offered an apology. The racial equality strategy in Stormont has been going on for years and has still not been sorted out.”

Elly also wants to work to improve the lot of asylum seekers in search of accommodation.

“If you were formerly an asylum seeker, and no matter how qualified you can be, when they check back through your record, and even if you have a job and can work now, they can still see this and on that basis they will say that you will not make a good tenant, because you once sought asylum. And there have been many experiences of this with new arrivals struggling to find somewhere to rent and a home.”