Göttingen's green mayoral candidate: Migrant, young, ambitious

The – in all likelihood – future mayor of Göttingen has migrant roots, is young and a member of the Green Party. Onyeka Oshionwu (34) won 41.4 percent of the vote in the local elections last Sunday. She is the clear favorite in the runoff election on September 27th against the second-placed CDU man Ehsan Kangarani - he is also a candidate with a migrant background.

On the one hand, Oshionwu owes her good result to the strong political anchoring of the Greens in Göttingen, who are once again by far the strongest faction in the local parliament. On the other hand, she ran an election campaign that also commanded respect from representatives of other parties.

For weeks, Oshionwu was on the move from early in the morning to late in the evening. At the information stand, hanging up posters, at panel discussions and so-called “living room discussions”, where she presented her ideas for an ecological and social city to small groups - often in private households. Her campaign team recorded the appearances for both traditional media and social media.

Oshionwu linked her messages and visions of a “city for all” to the core green issues of transport, housing and democracy. “I want to think further about climate protection in Göttingen,” she says. More speed in the expansion of renewable energies and energy renovation. More trees and unsealed areas. Oshionwu wants to launch a municipal heat protection concept, with more shade, more drinking water points and more cool places in public buildings.

Oshionwu wants to consistently implement the demands of the cycling decision, which has been largely ignored by the current administration, to make public transport reliable and affordable, but also to improve mobility for people who rely on cars.

Oshionwu also specifies the universal demand for affordable housing in overpriced Göttingen with concrete suggestions: strengthening urban housing, cooperatives and community housing projects, more barrier-free living space, fighting vacancies.

She wants to set up a municipal contact point against rent extortion and adopt the “Bunte 111” concept developed years ago in Berlin for precarious living situations. The owners, residents and the city will then work together to develop solutions so that no one has to live in neglected houses like the disreputable complex at Groner Landstrasse 9.

In general, if Oshionwu has his way, ideas from the population should be more heavily incorporated into political decisions. That's why she relies on "participation right from the start" - with formats such as citizens' forums and the living room discussions that were already practiced during the election campaign, in which people can directly contribute their perspectives. As part of a “citizens’ budget” to be set up specifically, the people of Göttingen should decide what the money will be used for.

Onyeka Oshionwu is the daughter of a Nigerian father and a German mother and grew up in Göttingen. She studied politics, economics and English to become a teacher at the local university and at a university in South Africa. In order to finance her studies and travel the world, Oshionwu worked as a flight attendant for Lufthansa for over 15 years.

Her main job has been teaching young offenders in the open youth prison system. Oshionwu has been a member of the city council and honorary mayor since November 2021. However, she has no administrative experience yet, which some in the city criticize.