Siaya senator James Aggrey Bob Orengo is not having it easy in his bid to succeed the incumbent and outgoing governor Cornel Amoth Rasanga come 9th August 2022.
While others have challenged James Orengo to share his development track records as a member of parliament for Ugenya, there are those who have gone an extra mile to challenge him to demonstrate whether he performed his oversight roles in the county as a senator for 10 years.
Vying against former Rarieda member of parliament Nicholas Odero Gumbo, James Orengo is finding it difficult to compete on the basis of manifesto since Gumbo’s track records in Rarieda speak for themselves unlike those of James Orengo in Ugenya.
At the same time, there are even more serious obstacles that the senator has to deal with in his quest to be the Siaya boss in the coming general elections.
One of those obstacles include his past sentiments prior to the 2013 general elections. According to ODM insiders such as John Mbadi, Orengo was asked to be a governor when devolution was first introduced but he vehemently rejected the seat.
Mbadi disclosed that Orengo bragged how he was an international lawyer of repute and that he could not waste himself by going back to the village politics in Siaya county.
“But the truth is we were not told about devolution in 2013. We really pleaded with James Orengo to consider Siaya gubernatorial position when both him and Oburu were eyeing the senate seat. We wanted him to leave the seat for Oburu Odinga then but he responded with what the late Otieno Kajwang referred to as “Kizungu kubwa kubwa” that he was an international lawyer of repute, hence he could not waste himself by being a governor based in the village. Indeed we agreed with him then but surprisingly he now wants the same position.” Said Mbadi recently.
These sentiments were reiterated by his 2022 competitor Nicholas Odero Gumbo who revealed that Orengo made it clear in 2013 that he could not leave his law farm in Nairobi just to go back to the village to serve the people of Siaya.
Gumbo who made these revelations while speaking to a local radio station a few days ago confessed how he advised Orengo to be the governor in 2013 since Oburu had declared interest in the senate but the good lawyer dismissed him.
“I still don’t know what I want but at least I am very certain that I am not interested in the gubernatorial position. He then gave three reasons why he was not interested in the governor position.” Said Gumbo who quoted Orengo.
The first reason as narrated by Gumbo was that he was a politician and that he could not work in an office. Secondly, Gumbo said that Orengo made it clear to him that his law firm was in Nairobi and that there was no way he could be far from it due to the need to attend court sessions. Lastly, the Siaya senator made it clear that his objective was to help Raila be president hence he wanted to be in the national limelight as opposed to county/village politics.
Gumbo therefore wondered why Orengo is suddenly interested in being the Siaya governor in 2022 despite bragging prior to 2013 that it was a mere village seat not worth his attention.
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