Governor Orengo, according to our sources, has sidelined his deputy William Oduol from the day-to-day duties despite him being his principal assistant. He doesn’t consult his deputy nor does he assign him duties. Initially, the two had agreed to work as a team but Mr Orengo reneged on the agreement, and even during the naming of his cabinet he did not involve Mr Oduol. The same happened during the naming of senior staff, Oduol was not allowed to appoint any top officer in the county government
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Barely one month after ODM had party leader Raila Odinga brokered a truce between Siaya Governor JamesOrengo and his deputy William Oduol, the supremacy battle between the two has erupted again. Although the cold war between the two erupted soon after they were sworn into office as governor and deputy, it came to play out in recent months when Mr Oduol went public and told his confidantes that working with Mr Orengo was proving difficult.
To begin with, Governor Orengo, according to our sources, has sidelined his deputy William Oduol from the day-to-day duties despite him being his principal assistant. He doesn’t consult his deputy nor does he assign him duties. Initially, the two had agreed to work as a team but Mr Orengo reneged on the agreement during the naming of the cabinet in which he did not involve Mr Oduol. The same happened during the naming of senior staff, Oduol was not allowed to appoint any top officer in the county government.
Mr Oduol had initially run for the gubernatorial seat against Cornel Rasanga twice, many believe thathe won the seat on those two occasions but was rigged out; he initially wanted to run against Mr Orengo in the last elections but was persuaded to be MrOrengo’s running mate by the ODM party leader. It was Odinga who brokered the deal to have him withdraw from the race to deputize James Orengo. The deal was that they were to share power equally.
Analysts say Mr Oduol held an upper hand in the gubernatorial race owing to the massive following he enjoys in Siaya, in a fair contest but swallowed his pride to deputize Orengo. Sources say Mr Orengo is working on a political plot to clip Oduol’s political wings knowing well that he will be running against him in 2027. To make Mr Oduol politically irrelevant, Orengo is said to have engaged his political lieutenants to ensure that Oduol is confined to the office all days of the week.
Keen observers must have noticed that Orengo doesn’t delegate any duty to Oduol even in his absence; hesends the county secretary or CECs to represent him at county functions, confining Mr Oduol into a ceremonial deputy. It has also been discovered that Orengo has thwarted attempts by Oduol to push for the implementation of various projects that had been budgeted for during the previous regime. Investigations reveal that the governor halted the implementation of several projects, particularly in former governor Cornel Rasanga’s sub-county of Alego Usonga where Oduol hails. Mr Orengo knows if the projects are implemented then Oduol will take credit.
Alego-Usonga leaders are now up in arms against the governor. They are supporting Mr Oduol to push for the implementation of projects former governor Cornel Rasanga had initiated and budgeted for especially those in Alego_Usonga.
To show just how badthe situation is, county residents led by Alego Usonga ODM party chairman Orwenjo Umidha have been forced to intervene and broker a truce between the governor and his deputy, noting that the continued bad blood between the two leaders would cause disharmony and kill development in the region. Sources further divulged that Umidha has threatened to mobilize locals to demonstrate against the governor should Mr Orengo and Oduol fail to bury the hatchet and forge a cordial working relationship. Last week, word leaked out that the matter is already getting out of hand to the extent that Oduol has not been able to use his official car on several occasions due to lack of fuel and has been forced to use either his private car or a motorbike.
