Energy and Petroleum Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi has declared that he has dismantled Siaya Governor James Orengo's political network, and has asked the governor to abandon his new party and return to the ODM-UDA broad-based arrangement.

Speaking to residents in Urefu village, Ugunja, Wandayi said Siaya had little room for political outfits outside ODM and its partnership with President William Ruto's UDA, according to TV47 and Capital FM.

"In fact, within a very short time, I have succeeded in dismantling the political infrastructure of Governor Oro completely," the CS said, adding that the county would become "literally a broad-based zone".

Door open for Orengo

Wandayi said he had personally reached out to Orengo, a vocal critic of ODM's cooperation with Ruto, who recently launched a separate political outfit.

"I told the governor Orengo that he is free to come back here, to come back to the broad-based coalition. I have seen he has decided to form some party, some fringe party," he said, adding that he believed it had been launched at a home in Kwale.

He said he was working "very, very aggressively" to bring back leaders who had drifted to the Linda Mwananchi movement and other groupings. "Our people are used to speaking in one voice, our people are used to walking together, and our people are used to voting in one direction," he said.

'Not a CS of one village'

Wandayi defended his dual role as a Cabinet member and a key player in Siaya politics. "I am not a cabinet secretary of one particular village or two, three villages," he said, insisting his job requires him to serve every part of the country under the President's direction.

TV47 reported that he said he would stay out of county-level campaigns until ODM holds credible nominations, after which he would back the party's candidates for every post, from MCA to governor. He described Siaya as a stronghold for Ruto and ODM under party leader Oburu Oginga.

A long-running feud

The exchange is the latest in a feud between the two leaders over ODM's place in government. Orengo has repeatedly warned that the party is being weakened from within by its alliance with UDA, while Wandayi, one of the ODM figures in Ruto's Cabinet, earlier this year dared the governor to declare a 2027 presidential bid.

Photos: Capital FM; LuffyDe via Wikimedia Commons (CC0). Thumbnail design: HAMASTA MEDIA.