Orengo, Oduol war escalates as assembly summons deputy governor
Siaya Governor James Orengo (left) and his Deputy William Oduol. The two are embroiled in a power war with supporters of Mr Oduol accusing the governor of sidelining his principal assistant.
The County Assembly of Siaya has summoned Deputy Governor William Oduol to shed light on grave allegations he made against the county government.
Already a member of the assembly has filed a motion seeking to have Mr Oduol appear before the House within 14 days, to clarify serious allegations he made against the county government.
The motion that was tabled by the Yimbo East MCA Francis Otiato expressed concerns over the alleged conduct of the deputy county chief.
The document expresses the concern of the MCAs over the allegations by Mr Oduol, claiming that it shows lack of confidence and mistrust in the county leadership, thus implanting hopelessness among the electorates.
This motion comes just days after a supremacy battle played out between Mr Oduol and Alego Usonga lawmaker Samuel Atandi on Saturday March 18.
"He insinuated openly in a certain funeral ceremony that there are discriminatory budget reallocations to disadvantage residents of Alego Usonga,” read part of the motion tabled before the Siaya County Assembly.
The document further stated: “The Deputy Governor also made comments insinuating that the current bursary allocations and maize seed distributions in Siaya County are riddled with corruption.
"(And that) certain officers are targeted for removal from the county service because they come from Alego-Usonga."
Mr Otiato, in the document, also expressed concerns over Mr Oduol’s insinuation that funds allocated to complete construction of Siaya Stadium have been re-allocated to build Migwena Sports Centre in Bondo.
Baying for Oduol's blood
The assembly also seeks clarification on allegations that there are people in the county service who want Mr Oduol out of office because of his stand against corruption in the Siaya Executive.
This comes as political rivalry between Mr Atandi and Mr Oduol continues to play out in public.
Mr Atandi expressed anger over what he referred to as perpetrators of corruption trying to work with other leaders in undermining Governor James Orengo.
“I worked so hard in Alego Usonga to convince the teachers and other professionals to stand with the current administration.
"This is the reason I will not allow anyone to begin undermining the governor before he delivers on his manifesto,” said Mr Atandi at a function in Alego Usonga.
Mr Atandi and Mr Oduol are all from the larger Alego Usonga constituency, where they seem to be flexing their political muscles on who controls the populous constituency.
Out of the six constituencies in Siaya County, Alego Usonga has the highest number of registered voters with 124,000 votes.
Earlier, opinion leaders, former elected leaders and elders from Alego Usonga gave Mr Orengo three weeks’ ultimatum to work with his deputy, failure to which they would call for mass action.
They accused the county boss of side-lining his deputy in running the county government.
“We elected the two leaders to work together as a team. Mr Oduol is the deputy to Mr Orengo and they should work together. It makes no sense when the deputy has been reduced to sitting in office, taking tea and reading newspapers,” said Mr Orwenjo Umidha, a former mayor of the now-defunct Siaya Municipal Council.
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