From left: ODM leader Raila Odinga, President William Ruto, Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong'o and his Siaya counterpart James Orengo.
Away from the stinging public criticism of the broad-based government and how President William Ruto should be kept in check, senior members of Raila Odinga’s ODM party have continued to reach out to the Head of State to forge closer working ties.
This could result in their regions receiving more government projects, some of which are allocated at the whim of the Executive.
The Sunday Nation is in possession of documents in the form of petitions and memoranda from some of the individuals like Siaya Governor James Orengo, the foremost critic, and his Kisumu counterpart Anyang’ Nyong’o, seeking projects and intervention on various issues.
On Friday, Mr Odinga reiterated that ODM was not in government, even as he defended Mr Orengo and Prof Nyong’o, whose recent outbursts against President Ruto’s administration had stirred the broad-based government.
Mr Odinga’s statement only added confusion on his position under the broad-based arrangement, which has left his supporters guessing.
Despite President Ruto appointing his key allies to Cabinet positions and senior advisory roles, Mr Odinga continues to remind his supporters to stay put in the opposition. Some of those who are serving in Cabinet are Mr Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), Mr John Mbadi (National Treasury), Mr Hassan Joho (Mining), Mr Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives) and Ms Beatrice Askul (EAC). Those from Mr Odinga’s camp who have been appointed as the president’s advisers are Mr Jaoko Oburu, Mr Joe Ager, and Mr Sylvester Kasuku. Prof Adams Oloo was also picked as an adviser but resigned to take up a role in the selection panel to pick the new electoral commission.
Governors James Orengo (Siaya) and Anyang' Nyong'o (Kisumu)
“When James Orengo talks, he’s talking on the basis of MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between ODM and UDA. He has not committed any crime; he’s got a democratic right to say what he wants to say. When Anyang Nyong’o speaks about devolution, he’s talking the language of ODM,” said Mr Odinga in Homa Bay on Friday.
But the ODM leader’s statement contradicts the behind-the-scenes happenings between his party and UDA.
Read: Orengo defies Raila
As he was speaking in Homa Bay, ODM Executive Director Oduor Ong’wen was hosting UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar at the party’s headquarters in Nairobi, suggesting the two parties’ camaraderie.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, another fierce critic of the broad-based government, was, however, conspicuously absent from the meeting.
For Mr Odinga and his lieutenants, he defended on Friday, this puts him in sharp focus: A man who wants to have his cake and eat it, a position key Dr Ruto allies, led by Senate Majority Leader Aaron Cheruiyot, have pointed out.
In one of the letters of appreciation to President Ruto in 2023, and away from his public criticisms of the Kenya Kwanza regime, Mr Orengo refers to a request by his administration for the national government to contribute “Sh30 million towards the completion of the rice mill in Usonga Ward, Alego Usonga Sub County”.
He also calls for the development of fish landing sites at Wichlum Beach in South Sakwa Ward and Usenge Beach in West Yimbo Ward, Bondo Sub-county, to “enhance fish value addition and revamp the local economy”.
“The purpose of this letter, therefore, is to seek your kind attention and support in the realisation of these commitments,” he writes.
The governor also urged the President to support his administration by liaising with “relevant ministries, departments and agencies to expedite the commitments on the projects”.
Other projects Mr Orengo is seeking support on from the national government include the completion of the Bondo-Nango-Liunda road, the revival of the construction of the Got Nanga-Bar Ober-Uhuru-Sihayi bypass with an extension to Konyango Luanda-Kadongo in Ugenya Sub-county and the construction of various markets spread across the county including Akala, Obambo, Bar Ober, Luanda K’otieno, Usenge, Sidindi, Riat (Aram), Luhano and Ugunja among others.
Mr Orengo also called for integrated projects to be co-funded by the national and county governments to include affordable housing, a bus park and a market centre in Siaya Town, as well as 5,000 units of affordable housing to be built in Siaya, Bondo and other centres.
He also mentioned the construction of the Goye Bridge in West Yimbo County along the Bondo-Usenge-Osieko road.
Mr Orengo, during the funeral of Mr Odinga’s bodyguard George Oduor that was attended by President Ruto, said the broad-based deal between President Ruto and Mr Odinga should be one where there was no praise-singing and development “should be by right.”
President Willam Ruto confers with ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between ODM and UDA at Kenyatta International Convention Center in Nairobi on March 07, 2025.
“I urge you, praise-singing will not get us anywhere, I urge you to tell your leader the truth. I don’t sing praises. This country will go to the dogs again if the kind of language I’m hearing continues. If anything is brought to Siaya, it will be as a matter of right, not as a favour,” Mr Orengo said in Siaya on April 12.
Then there is what appears to be a double message from Prof Nyong’o, who on Saturday, April 26 appeared to cool down the political tempo he raised on Tuesday by “thanking President Ruto for successfully negotiating with the Chinese Government the financing of the SGR from Nakuru, through Kisumu and connecting Kenya to Uganda through Malaba.”
This came barely four days after he, on Tuesday, went for Dr Ruto’s jugular, accusing his government of undermining devolution and returning the country to the old constitutional order of the ‘Nyayo’ era.
“The truth is that the Ruto regime has decided to go back to the pre-devolution days of the Nyayo era. The 2010 Constitution is an obstacle to its primitive accumulation schemes that will affect not only devolution but the very ethos of building a national democratic and developmental state,” Prof Nyong’o said in his hard-hitting statement.
He went further to accuse the Ruto-led national government of failing to manage the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH), yet in a memorandum seen by the Nation, the Kisumu governor personally lobbied for the transfer of the Kisumu-based Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH) to the national government.
“The counties manage health effectively and efficiently. The national government cannot even manage the Kenyatta National Hospital: one of the few health facilities in its hands,” Prof Nyong’o said in a statement on Tuesday.
But in his earlier memorandum to President Ruto, Prof Nyong’o wrote: “We request that the transfer of JOOTRH to the national government be expedited so that it can realise its full potential,” he said.
Luo Professional Caucus chairman Joshua Nyamori, a pro-Ruto group, questioned why Prof Nyong’o was proposing the transfer of Jaramogi Hospital to the national government if his position was that the Ruto-led government could not manage KNH.
“Isn’t it a contradiction to push for the transfer of a facility in your county to the same government that you claim has failed and is taking the country back to the dark Nyayo era?” Mr Nyamori asked.
Cabinet has since approved the upgrading of JOOTRH to a national teaching and referral hospital.
Mr Cheruiyot, the Senate Majority Leader, on Wednesday accused Mr Odinga’s camp of blackmailing the President.
“It is quite difficult to be William Samoei Ruto (WSR). ODM members, like all their colleagues in the National Assembly, want to retain the Road Maintenance Levy Fund (RMLF).”
“The Senate has been siding with the Council of Governors (COG) on this issue to the best of its ability, albeit with minimal success. Then, in classic political pietism, Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o comes out of the blue to blame the President. A very poor attempt at blackmail,” charged Mr Cheruiyot.
But Mr Sifuna hit back, telling Mr Cheruiyot that he had no moral authority to call out the ODM party leadership and members.
ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna.
“ODM party leader Baba himself has repeatedly and consistently stated in public his position on RMLF, CDF and support for devolution.”
Despite his recent criticism of Dr Ruto’s administration, Prof Nyong’o, a senior member of Mr Odinga’s party who served as the party leader during his African Union Commission (AUC) campaigns, has secretly approached the President for assistance in running his administration.
In one of his memoranda to Dr Ruto, he asked for support on legal ownership of land that houses public facilities and institutions such as schools and hospitals.
Affordable housing
He also sought support for the affordable housing and slum upgrading projects, citing that “Kisumu is eager to implement the affordable housing programme but faces challenges in land acquisition”.
The Kisumu County boss also called for the 600-hectare Kibos land parcel, which is currently in court, to be gazetted for use as a special economic zone similar to Mombasa’s Dongo Kundu project, saying it would boost industrialisation and job creation in the region.
“The government is urged to expedite the leasing of the Miwani and Muhoroni sugar factories and revive the Chemelil Sugar Company to support thousands of farmers and stabilise the sugar sector in the Lake Region.”
Prof Nyong’o also sought support from the national government to transform Kisumu’s lakefront into a modern recreational and tourism zone, including relocation of non-compliant businesses and creation of an integrated urban waterfront.
As the debate continues, Mr Odinga’s wife, Ida, had also left the public guessing last week after she urged the Nyanza region to take advantage of the current ODM-UDA deal to reap from the government.
In her speech, Mrs Odinga this week in Migori likened the deal to a drizzle of rain and urged the community to take advantage and plant.
National Assembly Minority Whip Millie Odhiambo also urged ODM leaders and supporters to support the Ruto government with caution “because the ground is not good.”
“Let’s just give our people like (John) Mbadi who are there time to help but I urge my fellow leaders that even if you have a man who has invited you for a date, do you go with a suitcase? You don’t even take your clothes and even if he invites you for a sleepover, you only take one pair of clothes because you first have to find out whether they are good people or not. So even if we help them, we should not bury our heads in the sand but remain cautious,” Ms Odhiambo warned in Homa Bay on Tuesday.
