By Anderson Ojwang

The political war against Siaya Governor James Orengo is not about to end anytime soon, as he finds himself being isolated and an object of attack over his opposition to the broad-based government.

During the recent visit to Migori County by President William Ruto, Orengo came under a barrage of attacks led by area governor Dr Ochilo Mbogo Ayacko.

Ayacko told Orengo that the Luo community will not join him in his journey to Wamunyoro (Wamunyoro is the home village of impeached Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua).

“Those who want us to go to Wamunyoro, we are not going there. We are the people of the lake. There is no single day the water has flowed to the mountain.

It requires special pumps, and we do not have those pumps. If the mountain wants us, let them descend to the lake. The mountain can go to the valley and the lake. We climbed the mountain when we were thirsty.

We are not going to the mountain again. Not that we hate them, but we also want them to look at the lake too. Let them look into Rift Valley, Coast and other regions and not themselves alone.
The mountain hardly looks where other Kenyans are,” he said.

Ayacko said it was wrong for a governor to criticise the national government, as they have a mutual relationship to deliver services to the people.

“I want to tell you that when you see a governor criticising a national government, that is idiocy. The constitution is very clear, explicit that the relationship between the national government and county government must be that of mutual respect, cooperation, and working together for the benefit of the people.

So that is why, as Migori governor, I may have individual feelings, but because I am head of government, I would be pained if I were to provoke the national government to criticise my own government.

Imagine if the President came here because I am his incessant critic, to criticise the people of Migori. Because the governor of Migori is also criticising the national government.

That is why, when I was invited to Alliance High School Founders’ Day, Riggy was saying the governors are bad-mannered. I told him no, the people of Migori are demonstrating for their rights. You have not seen me on the streets, but I sympathise with them because I am a Raila Odinga follower.

So do not victimise and invite me to criticise you. Your Excellency, Riggy said that the bad-mannered governors will be frustrated. I am glad MPs led by Junet Mohammed saw the sense and impeached him.

If that person was in your administration, people from some regions with differing political ideology could not have a chance to serve in your administration.

The broad-based arrangement is what nations that are diverse and potentially divided need. All of us, however small the communities you come from, need to feel that the national government identifies with us.

When you and Raila pronounced a broad-based government, you did something that is transformational. Now you can see wherever you go, people can sit together and discuss.
Broad-based government includes people beyond their political, religious, and ethnic inclinations. It is the best arrangement that you are championing.

I want to apologise on behalf of any of my colleagues who are faulting the broad-based government. I want to apologise on behalf of any person doing that.

Ruto is a friend before, during and after the competition. That spirit is also the spirit of Raila Odinga.

Your Excellency, these people love you; continue visiting. We are not looking into another government but your government.

Locally here, they are looking up to my government and your government is their government.
We are working seamlessly with the President. I visited the President in Kilgoris, and after that I led a delegation from Migori to a development meeting with the President. We represented your issues,” he said.

Orengo now finds himself a lone ranger as Siaya Senator Dr Oburu Oginga leads a troupe that is critical of his stand over the broad-based government.

The clock is fast ticking for Orengo as the onslaught on him is likely to gain momentum with time.
Orengo, once a close confidant of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, is fast finding himself an isolated man over his opposition to the broad-based government.

Orengo could be waking up to the sudden reality that ODM and the Odingas have long discarded the hard brunt of politics played in the public gallery and streets, in favour of a more accommodative one.
Orengo could still be stuck in the old age of politics of activism, public gallery and public protests, unaware of what the office of the governor bestows on him in terms of service delivery and accountability to the public.

But Orengo has maintained that he shall speak the truth and is ready to go to jail and join demonstrations against the current government.

“The truth shall make you free and we must have a leadership nationally and continentally that believes in the law. And the truth.
I, James Aggrey Bob Orengo, who believes in the rule of law and I believe in the constitution, trained by the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and I have worked with Raila Amolo Odinga.
I cannot let Kenyans and my community down by not speaking the truth.

I will continue speaking the truth. And if there is anybody who wants to take any action against me, I want to tell them that me, I have been through those trials and tribulations. I am a tested iron bar. I don’t fear anything in this world, I have been through the trenches. Even those who fear night runners, who cannot go out in the night, want to challenge Orengo?

I am prepared to go back to jail. I am prepared to go back to the streets. This is not a country to be proud of. This is a country where the young people, the Gen Z, you have to come out and we are prepared to join you,” he said.

But Oburu, in his response, asked Orengo to ship out and deliver services to the people of Siaya instead of politicking.“Personally, I am a very truthful man and I am pained. I come from Siaya, and when my own governor stands up and says that he is annoyed, I don’t know who he is annoyed by or what he is annoyed about. And he says he just wants to talk about the truth and the truth? What truth? I never lie, I always say the truth.

And the truth of the matter, Your Excellency, is that we are in a broad-based government, not as individual Members of Parliament and not as individual Senators.

We are in this broad-based government as a result of a resolution of our party ODM. And the party signed a ten-point agreement with the UDA government and all of us were there.
Those who are annoyed and who think this broad-based government is not right, they are actually vomiting on us from within. Why don’t you get out and vomit from without?

Because we want our party, ODM, to have a nice smell and we want to move on with our people. And before these agreements were signed, there was a lot of consultation. Raila went round the country as the party leader of ODM, consulting the people.

I therefore want to say, Your Excellency, we are talking for our people. When we are being told we have to talk for our rights, Your Excellency, that is what we are fighting for. That is why we are elected to do the same. The governor is not given a mandate to fight for his people’s rights. He is given a mandate to serve his people.

He is given resources to serve his people. This is the time to serve your people. This is not the time to fight for their rights. Which rights do you want to fight for more than what they eat? What and which right are you fighting for?

Which rights are you fighting for more than the roads, hospitals, water, and electricity which one do you want us to fight for?

Which one do you want us to go to the streets to fight for? If you want to fight, there is a lot of space elsewhere where you can do that fighting. For us, our people are waiting for the service. This is the time to work and we are not waiting to eat the shares of anybody,” he said.

By Billy Mijungu

Kenya’s political atmosphere has shifted rapidly over the past few weeks, less like a storm, more like a tide: slow, deliberate, but ultimately sweeping.

This subtle recalibration of power and personalities quietly redraws the country’s political landscape.

Perhaps the most symbolic development was the return of Dr. Fred Matiang’i, once a towering force in the previous administration, now welcomed back home to a reception that was more housing than hostile.

His decision to align with Wamunyoro, Kalonzo Musyoka, and the Broad-Based Government raises serious questions about the direction of his political relevance.

Will the sharp, commanding bureaucrat thrive in this coalition, or will the collective nature of this new alliance dilute his former influence?

Time will reveal whether Matiang’i is a phoenix or a footnote.

Tragedy also struck the nation with the fatal shooting of Hon. Ong’ondo Were, MP for Kasipul.

The loss sent tremors through the fragile threads holding the Broad-Based Government together.

However, swift action by security agencies led to the arrest of suspects closely tied to local political networks, exposing an undercurrent of criminal infiltration in grassroots politics.

Ironically, the incident reinforced rather than weakened the Broad-Based Government, exposing the emptiness of those who rushed to weaponise grief for political mileage.

The message is now clearer than ever: stability is still the currency of power.

The new appointees under the Broad-Based arrangement are already settling into rhythm.

President Ruto’s recent Nyanza tour was accompanied by a fresh cast of regional and national leaders, their presence both symbolic and strategic.

Among the most striking is CPA Carren Ageng’o, newly appointed to lead the Children Welfare Services.

In just under two weeks, she has erected institutional structures where others may have struggled for months.

Her quiet efficiency in transitioning from the State Department for Social Protection is earning her admiration as one of the fastest rising technocrats in this administration.

Meanwhile, the broader economic picture offers a mixed bag.

Kenya’s fiscal deficit has been shaved down to 4.5%, which is a commendable feat, considering the turbulence of the past year.

The Gen Z revolution and the controversial clipping of the 2024 Finance Bill were political tsunamis that forced the government to rethink spending priorities.

Growth has slowed, but it is disciplined, a painful yet necessary recalibration for long-term sustainability.

On the opposition front, Raila Odinga has masterfully cooled the fires among ODM’s rebellious fringes.

By urging restraint in criticism of the Broad-Based Government, he has reaffirmed the party’s independence while signalling a strategic détente.

Leaders like Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o and James Orengo, long seen as ideological stalwarts, continue to walk the fine line between opposition and national cohesion.

In all, Kenya’s political tide has not just changed, it has matured.

The stormy populism of the past months is giving way to tempered collaboration.

The Broad-Based Government is no longer a fragile experiment; it is beginning to look like a functioning consensus.

The road ahead is still full of bumps, but the wheels of statecraft are in motion.

We watch, we wait, and we learn, as tides always return.

By Anderson Ojwang

The fluidly Kenya’s political landscape is fast witnessing a unique and a precedential moment where the master and the servants who previously read from the same script, currently have a departure from the norm.

The political class and the public are currently witnessing a departure, with the latter charting their own destination while the former is still glued to the old script that they used to determine the present and the future.

For eons, the political class have dictated the scripts while the gullible and vulnerable public have swallowed without any form of contestation and followed the script to the letter.

But currently, the public has woken up from the ages of slumber and are charting their own destination while the political class have gone into sleep believing that the status quo remains constant.

The Genz rebellion seems to have triggered the awakening power in the public and a new dawn is fast emerging and unfolding in the country.

The political class have failed to read the public mood and the kind of leadership the public desires.

The public needs a servant leader who cares about their needs, food, jobs, education, mainly basic needs but these have not been forthcoming, and instead the current political class have been lording over the public and only thinks about himself, relatives and cronies

The trends and events in the recent past and currently towards the political class, are if anything to go by, then what awaits them is so consequential and could radically change the country.

The backlash that marked the death of son to MP Beatrice Elachi and the death of Kasipul MP Charles Ongondo Were is a pointer to what the future holds.

The recent Migori incident, where a shoe was thrown at  President William Ruto, in Kehancha, in Kuria, where he received most of the presidential votes is so telling.

Medic and political analyst Dr Alfred Obengo says there is an ongoing social phenomenon going on unnoticed.

The political class are on their own. The public’s empathy towards them is gone.

My hunch is that the open and insensitive display of opulence by the political class could be one of the major reasons for the deep fissure between them and the public.

The political class are our work. They are the modern-day Marie Antoinettes: “Give them a cake if there is no bread.”

The political class is no longer in touch with the thinking of the hoi polloi.

Mr. Sam Ochieng, a political commentator, argues that the public and the political class are not reading from the same script.

He attributes this to  several factors that contributed to this disconnect and include:

Different priorities: The public often prioritises basic needs like resource management, fair distribution, and project implementation. Politicians might focus on political survival, power dynamics, or personal gain.

Lack of transparency and accountability: Insufficient information and opaque decision-making processes can lead to mistrust.

 Manipulation: Politicians might manipulate projects or resources for political mileage, rather than serving the public interest.

 Communication gaps: Inadequate engagement between the public and politicians can exacerbate misunderstandings.

Ochieng says the disconnect can result in ineffective governance, unmet public expectations, and decreased trust in institutions.

Medic and Political Analyst Prof Otieno Obondi disagrees saying the public is so gullible and vulnerable to read from different script from the political class.

“The public will always obey the law, the law of inertia and move with the whims of the political class. Nature abhors a vacuum and that is why the political class cannot allow the public to create that Vacuum,” he argues.

 He says the public will be manipulated by the political class, and they will create a common ground that the public will follow.

“What we are currently witnessing are just artificial moments, soon the public will recoil back to the status quo and will dance to the wish and whims of the political class,” he says.

He says the politicians have learnt the art and tact of enslaving the public and that they have remained indispensable in their lives.

Prof Otieno says currently the public are in political holiday and pretending to be reading from a different script with the political class.

“The public is on holiday and currently removed from reality. But they are confused and in the bondage of the political class.

The political class will ensure they remain in the cocoon because they are the custodian of thinking for the public.

They will vote what the political leadership will tell them and will surrender their lives and dance to the whims of the politicians,” he says.

Prof Otieno argues that the political class have identified the poor and illiterates to be pivotal in their colonization of the public mindset.

“ The political class will ensure the status quo is maintained and will remain the custodian of thinking and agenda setting. Politicians have taken away our common sense. The elites should be in the forefront to reverse the situation,” he says.