Sometime last July, just days after former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and President William Ruto shook hands at the stoop of the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Siaya Governor James Orengo raised an alarm that refuses to be silenced.

Uniting with Ruto, a passionate Orengo argued, was a bad idea.

“I want to speak to those rushing to join President Ruto. He is a passing cloud, and I say this without any fear of contradiction,” the Siaya governor asserted, adding that the President had run out of funds to implement any meaningful projects and had fallen out with Western powers.