Siaya Governor James Orengo has criticised what he described as a growing culture among politicians of excessively depending on presidential favour for development projects.

Speaking during an interview on Obinna Show Live on the night of Friday, May 22, 2026, Orengo argued that Kenya’s Constitution already provides structured mechanisms for equitable allocation of resources.

He said it was misguided for leaders to behave as though development can only come through direct personal support from the president.

Orengo argued that Kenya’s devolved governance and programme-based budgeting system was specifically designed to ensure fairness and transparency in development planning across all regions.

“I think it is a bit stupid for anybody under this new constitution to worship the president the way I see some of my colleagues do or think that it is only the president who can bring development to any county,” Orengo said.

According to him, the national budget already outlines government projects and allocations, making it unnecessary for leaders to rely solely on political proximity to the presidency.

Questions over project announcements

The veteran politician also questioned the credibility of some public project launches and groundbreaking ceremonies conducted by the president.

He claimed that in many cases, projects announced publicly do not have sufficient funding allocations in the budget.

“You can look at the budget and determine whether a road is there, but a lot of times when these announcements are being made that a road is going to be built, you go into the budget, and you find there is no money for it,” he stated.

Claims of stalled projects

Orengo further claimed that some infrastructure projects are launched with minimal funding that is insufficient to sustain construction work.

“Sometimes you can find a road which will cost about Ksh10 billion, and in the budget there is only Ksh500,000. So he would come, do groundbreaking, and after two weeks, the contractor leaves the site,” Orengo said.

The remarks appeared to target what he termed as politically driven development announcements that fail to translate into actual implementation.

Orengo-Ruto rift

Orengo has not been on good terms with President William Ruto and has occasionally criticised the head of state over claims that he wanted to kill multi-partism in Kenya following his efforts to merge parties with his ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA).

The few times the two have met have been during official functions only, the latest being when Orengo received Ruto in Siaya County during his development tour.

In an interview with K24 TV on Wednesday, May 6, 2026, Orengo reflected on his past discussions with Ruto, revealing a long-standing ideological friction over whether Kenya’s democracy benefits from strong coalitions or dominant single-party structures.

“I have explained to Ruto himself when I sat with him, even before matters of a broad-based arrangement had begun. I told him, first of all, do not break up parties, because I had already seen the parties that had entered the Kenya Kwanza coalition, such as Mudavadi,” Orengo said, referencing Musalia Mudavadi’s Amani National Congress (ANC), which later dissolved into UDA.

“I told him we fought people like Kenneth Matiba; he should do everything possible to ensure we protect these parties, but it is as if he did not hear.”