: Why Governor Orengo is walking tight rope

Defiant Siaya Governor James Orengo is putting on a brave face in the wake of a spirited attempt by a section of ODM leaders to unseat him.

The Sunday Standard has established that a faction of the party backing party leader Oburu Oginga is actively engaging potential successors of Orengo to challenge him in next year's General Elections.

This is after a plan by the party to impeach him ran into headwinds following disagreements with MCAs who believe impeaching Orengo will pave the way for his deputy, William Oduol, who survived an impeachment himself, to take over.

However, the journey to upset Orengo is on as intense lobbying for potential replacements gathers momentum.

Insiders say the move signals growing frustration within the party’s hierarchy, which accuses the incumbent of straying from its agenda and consolidating personal power at the expense of party loyalty.

For decades, Governor Orengo has been synonymous with defiance. He is a man who has built his political brand fighting successive regimes from the days of the former President Daniel Moi to the present.

Orengo has fallen out with his former allies, MPs Sam Atandi (Alego Usonga), Elisha Odhiambo (Gem), Gideon Ochanda (Bondo), and David Ochieng (Ugenya), who all campaigned for him when he was seeking the gubernatorial seat.

At the county level, he does not see eye to eye with his deputy.

Orengo's critics say he is rarely on the ground and has done little to show for it, as his popularity at the local level is dwindling.

A closed-door strategy meeting convened by Oburu has thrown fresh light on already simmering tensions within the party in Siaya county, sharpening speculation about the political future of Orengo.

The meeting, which happened earlier in the week, was attended by MP Ochieng, who has expressed interest in running for Orengo's seat come 2027, and his fierce competitor Nicholas Gumbo, whom he vied against in 2022 and defeated, and has expressed interest to vie for the seat again through a UDA ticket.

The meeting was also attended by his deputy, Oduol, who last month declared his interest in unseating Orengo in 2027.

Others in the meeting included Bondo MP Ochanda, who is rumoured to be amongst those the party is currently in talks with to vie for the gubernatorial seat with an ODM ticket in the coming elections.

On Friday, the party leader Oburu moved to meet the ward representatives, led by the Speaker George Okode, also in the absence of Orengo.

Orengo's exclusion has fuelled talk that the party's power brokers may be recalibrating their alliances ahead of the next electoral cycle.

Sources familiar with the deliberations of both meetings termed them as normal consultative forums among leaders to seek unity and also for grassroots mobilisations.

Yet the optics suggest something more strategic.

For months, Orengo has been perceived to be aligned with an emerging internal camp whose posture has unsettled sections of the party's traditional leadership

MP Atandi has accused Orengo of misleading the Luo community after the death of the former Prime Minister and ODM party leader, Raila Odinga.

Atandi argues that Orengo wants the community to take a political route that is taking them to Siberia.

"That is not the route the community should take. I do not think that after the death of Raila, any of our leaders should take our people to the streets," argues Atandi.

The MP says he has broken ranks with Orengo and maintains that they will send him packing.

He notes that he has also disagreed with Orengo because of his performance at the county government.

Atandi claims that Governor Orengo is one of the worst managers of resources at the county level and has no idea what to do.

"I have requested him not to run for his seat, to allow someone with managerial capabilities take over and push our development agenda forward," adds Atandi.

The MP confirms that the party has been shopping for an alternative candidate to vie for Orengo's seat.

He reveals that as leaders aligned to the party leader, they have been talking to the people in Siaya and different leaders, because essentially, Orengo has left the party.

"He is now aligned with Senator Edwin Sifuna and he is his student; he is no longer with us. As leaders of ODM in this county, we will not support him. We have not found someone yet, but all those interested will be given a chance to compete, and the people will settle on one," he notes.

But Orengo, in a swift rejoinder, maintains that he cannot be intimidated.

"I go by what is right for the people. So whatever they say or do, I will not be distracted," he notes.

On whether he will seek re-election, Orengo says that he will always play his cards close to his chest.

"Even when I was running for Senate, people said I was not going to run for Senate, so let me keep my cards to my chest," he adds.

Analyst and lawyer Clifford Obiero argues that Governor Orengo is not under siege as he is just expressing the politics he has understood for a long time, which he has played out over the years alongside late Raila.

He notes that Orengo is just in the wrong environment, and the faster he realizes he is meant to play oversight, the better.

"The position of a governor sometimes requires some level of hypocrisy, where you have to please MCAs and the government of the day to ensure resources come."