NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 9 — Senator James Orengo, one of the longest serving lawmaker having first joined Parliament in 1980 before exiting national politics to mount a gubernatorial campaign, has exuded confidence the Azimio coalition party and its affiliates will emerge out of Tuesday’s General Election victorious.
Orengo who has been Raila Odinga’s righthand man since his failed presidential bid in 2002 on the Social Democratic Party said he was certain the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party would do well in the larger Nyanza region despite an avalanche of independent candidates.
Speaking to reporters after casting his vote in Siaya, Orengo said he was impressed with the voter turnout and was still expecting more people to turn out for the remainder of the day.
Orengo who has been conspicuously missing in Odinga’s presidential campaign also commended the voting process by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) saying the exercise was well organized.
“The idea of having a polling center with polling stations each with a set of officials, is an improvement and as you know what happens in a polling station is critical because the courts pronounced that the place for determining the outcome is really the polling station,” he stated.
Orengo further added that the election was crucial to the county since its son — Odinga — was offering manifesto that promises to enhance the standards of living by creating more economic opportunities.
“We have many challenges in Siaya, more critically we don’t have a single major factory and in the Azimio manifesto we aim to have a factory in every county is an important objective we look forward to achieving,” he said.
Orengo noted given the county relies on subsistence farming with no cash crop available, he will aim to improve agribusiness should his ambition to become the next Siaya Governor succeed.
The senator who has largely camped in the county in a bid to mobilize support to beat former Rarienda lawmaker Nicholus Gumbo’s wave asked voters in the region to back ODM candidates.
Gumbo who is running on a United Democratic Movement, an affiliate party of the Azimio Coalition Party, has been projected as a frontrunner in the race.
Orengo’s rallying call for voters to back ODM candidates mirrors Odinga’s message during a campaign in Siaya in July when he asked voters in the region to unite behind the party.
Odinga called on voters in his Nyanza backyard to adopt the six-piece voting pattern in what he termed as an effort to guarantee a stable government if he is elected president.
Six-piece voting implies voters elect representatives in all the six elective positions — President, Governor, Senator, Woman Representative, Member of National Assembly and Member of the County Assembly — all a single political outfit.