Ojienda: What’s wrong working with Ruto to have our roads done?
Kisumu Senator Prof Tom Ojienda has vowed to continue defying ODM’s warning to stop working with the government.
“We cannot be isolated from the government yet it means well for us. No. We must work with it to benefit our people,” Ojienda said.
The senator is fast earning the tag of “rebel within” from staunch supporters of the region’s political supremo, Raila Odinga.
Ojienda lived up to this tag last weekend when he held roadside meetings in Kisumu to drum up support for the need to work with the government. He spoke at Pap Onditi in Nyakach amid warnings on social media for residents to keep off the meetings.
Police cordoned off the venue of his meeting, with both plain clothes and uniformed officers patrolling the area after word went round Ojienda and Nyakach Central MCA Vincent Odhiambo had planned to ditch Raila’s ODM party for president William Ruto’s UDA at the rally.
But addressing the crowd at Koguta Primary School in Nyakach, Ojienda maintained they were in ODM to stay. He said they were duly elected in ODM but they were aligning themselves with the State for development.
“What is wrong if we see a road project is delaying due to funding and we talk to Roads CS to fast-track it?” he asked, persuading Nyanza residents to change political mindset.
More resources
“People want to grow. We want change, we want more resources allocated to us, it’s the reason we wine with the state,” he stated.
Ojienda further claimed it was wrong for some leaders to incite the people against working with the government .
“It is the responsibility of the government to listen to our problems and solve them whenever we raise them,” he said. Ojienda, who recently led 11 MCAs to meet Interior Principal Secretary Dr Raymond Omollo defended their move.
The meeting prompted the Kisumu Assembly leadership, led by Speaker Elisha Oraro, to remove the MCAs from various committees they had been appointed to.
Five of the MCAs have since distanced themselves from the Ojienda camp and apologised for their actions.
They were accused of going against ODM rules and regulations.
