In a scorching appearance on Siaya’s Premier talkshow HARD TALK, Governor James Orengo’s longest-serving former Personal Assistant, Thomas Nduku, unleashed a devastating broadside against Siaya MPs and MCAs, accusing them of deliberate sabotage through crony appointments and venomous weekend funeral attacks.
“Stop playing politics with the voters of Siaya!” Nduku thundered. “Certain MPs have made it their weekend ritual to castigate the governor at funerals — but the public knows they are the very genesis of Orengo’s current problems.”
Painting a picture of betrayal, Nduku revealed how a trusting Orengo handed MPs the keys to staffing his administration. “Orengo is a trusting man,” he declared. “He gave them the chance to source personnel — not knowing loyalty to cronies, not qualification, was their only standard.”
In a passionate defence that silenced doubters, Nduku swore: “Governor Orengo is not corrupt! He’s in this rut because he trusted people too much.”
Nduku decried that Orengo’s many achievements are now being trashed by the very people he helped to rise up. He detailed how the governor inherited numerous incomplete projects from Rasanga. “He should have made a public catalogue when he took over, detailing how long the major projects will be completed…. now he gives the impression of having done little when the truth is the reverse.”
Yet hope flickered amid the drama. “It’s not too late,” Nduku insisted. “Orengo is a political veteran. If he does serious soul-searching and onboards the right expert team, he can turn everything around.”
Recalling a poignant conversation with the late Raila Odinga, Nduku disclosed how they broached the subject of scrapping second terms and how that would force leaders to deliver everything in their first — hinting Orengo may have held back flagship projects for a term now hanging by a thread.
If still advising the governor, Nduku said he would urge him to retreat from the public glare and build a fierce, vibrant team. He saluted Chief of Staff Cyrus Oguna but asked pointedly why his influence isn’t felt — “unless politicians are intimidating him.”
Studio laughter erupted when Nduku savaged the County Assembly: “Less than ten MCAs can intelligently discuss something like climate change and its impact on governance. How do you expect such an assembly to advise an intellectual giant like Orengo? That’s why he rarely engages them.”
Calling for revolutionary change in Luo Nyanza, he demanded intellectual tests for aspiring MCAs instead of blind ODM loyalty, and urged Orengo to benchmark thriving counties for real technocrats.
Most dramatically, Nduku pleaded for reconciliation with estranged Deputy Governor Dr William Oduol: “Bring back Oduol — he has the capacity to turn this ship around and put Siaya on a winning path.”
Warning of future peril, he fired a final salvo: “Electing a serving MP or Cabinet Secretary in Siaya won’t fix anything. What Orengo needs right now is a passionate, skilled team to finally deliver his vision.”
Nduku’s explosive intervention has plunged Siaya politics into fresh turmoil, with the governor’s legacy now teetering on the edge of redemption — or ruin.
