Senator James Orengo’s bid to succeed Governor Cornel Rasanga as Siaya governor has got a big blow after two strong candidates combined forces ahead of the August General Election.
Former police spokesperson Charles Owino has dropped out of the Siaya gubernatorial race and consequently agreed to deputize former Rarieda MP Nicholas Gumbo.
On Tuesday, March 29, the duo defected to the United Democratic Movement (UDM) associated with Mandera Governor Ali Roba to launch a joint Siaya County gubernatorial bid.
The move by Owino to decamp from ODM complicates matters for Orengo whom he was expected to face off in the party primaries.
With the new development, Senior Counsel Orengo has his work cut out in his ambition to be elected the second governor of Siaya.
Even though Siaya County with 457,957 voters, is the bedroom of ODM leader Raila Odinga, the ever-changing geopolitics has been shaping the local elections.
In the previous gubernatorial races, ODM candidate has been winning though with very small margins.
For instance, in the 2013 election, Cornel Rasanga who was vying on an ODM ticket garnered 138,908 narrowly beating Willaim Oduol who got 135,413 votes.
But in the 2013 elections, clan politics took center stage, as they had a secret power-sharing deal among different constituencies.
In the pre-election pact adopted in 2013, Alego-Usonga got governor, Bondo-deputy, Ugenya senate, gem women representative, Rarieda speaker, and Ugunja majority leader
Siaya County in numbers
In 2017, Gumbo who was running as an independent candidate narrowly lost the governor race to Cornel Rasanga getting 179,368 votes against Rasanga’s 198,889.
According to 2017 IEBC records Siaya had 457, 957 registered voters distributed in 6 constituencies; Alego-Usonga-(103,334), Ugunja (50,487), Ugenya (57,603), Gem (80,472) ,Bondo (90,278), and Rarieda (75,779).
Traditionally the ODM leader Raila Odinga has been pushing for a six-piece voting pattern in his strongholds.
But with the current political formations where small parties under the umbrella of Azimio la Umoja supporting his presidential bid, it will be hard to rule out some surprises.
Both Gumbo and Owino before teaming up, have been campaigning on the platform of a track record where they have consistently accused Orengo of having failed to initiate any meaningful development for the many years he has been in leadership.
Orengo who is serving his second term as the Siaya Senator was first elected as a Member of Assembly for Ugenya in 1980 at 29 years old and served for four terms. He has also served as a cabinet minister during the President Kibaki regime.
On his part, Gumbo previously served as the Rarieda MP from 2007 to 2017 before attempting his lack at the gubernatorial seat where he lost to Rasanga.
