If you go to jail, you will not come out - ODM MP warns James Orengo

Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi has hit out at Siaya Governor James Orengo following his remarks that he was willing to go back to jail, saying he may not survive due to his advanced age.

In a statement on Sunday, May 4, Atandi urged leaders from the Luo community to embrace the current opportunity to work with President William Ruto’s government.

“Some leaders from this community are promising that they want to go back to jail or they want to go back to the streets. I want to tell those leaders that some of them are so advanced in age that if they go back to jail, they will not come out.

“Jail is not a very comfortable place. Jail is like hell. We have an opportunity to work with the President to transform our region,” he said.

While speaking in Siaya on Wednesday, April 30, Orengo expressed that he was willing to organise demonstrations or go back to jail, accusing the government of being ineffective.

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“Unless we are prepared to fight for what is in the Constitution as a matter of right, Kenya is going to lose direction. I am ready to go back to jail, I am prepared to go back on the streets. This is not a country to be proud of,” he said.

Notably, this was not the first time Orengo, a close ally of ODM leader Raila Odinga, has called out the government publicly.

During Raila’s bodyguard George Oduor’s funeral, Orengo declared he would not join the “praise-singing bandwagon” for the current government, calling for the need for honest discourse over uncritical support.

He cautioned that the country risked deterioration if leaders continued to avoid confronting uncomfortable truths.

“We can’t keep praise-singing all the time. If you keep praise-singing we will not have a country. So tell your leaders the truth. If you want something from the government, it is a matter of right. It is not a favour you are being given,” he said.

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