A note on how I observed the Jakom-Oreng’o-Nyong’o powerplay on the issue of the ODM Party Leader.
First of all congratulations to Prof. Peter Anyang’ Nyong’o; the number one goal of a politician is to win.
Orengo didn’t even see you coming. Yet you are friends. Awuoro!
This is the first significant power fight between Nyong’o and Orengo in a long time. In recent years, both men have avoided active internal party politics.
Having dropped out as Secretary General of ODM, Prof. Nyong’o has kept off internal party matters, deferring to the incumbent officeholders to run the party.
He attends, however, and participates in party functions that need him either as a delegate or party elect. The appointment to act as the Party Leader marks his return, substantially, to the helm.
Governor Orengo, on the other hand, has never really fought for any of the top party posts. His role as the party’s preeminent “advocate on record” in some of the high-stakes court appearances for the ODM party long cemented his place as a ‘de facto’ party higher up.
He needed no officialdom.
Many are asking…why then was Orengo not named PL?
The phrase that comes to mind was delivered by Paul Muite….”out of abundance of caution”.
There are delicate and complex political maneuvering going on now in Kenya which requires steady hands.
To take the ODM Party and put it in the hands of a man who was just recently singing ‘Ruto Must Go’ on the streets is to risk this defining moment. The ODM Party is a freedom fighter’s gun.
Dikembe Disembe is a political researcher and writer
