Seth Panyako has vowed to swear himself in as the people’s Member of Parliament for Malava immediately he lands in the constituency.

While speaking on a local podcast on Thursday, December 4, 2025, Panyako, who was visibly frustrated and seemed to be slowly reeling from the aftermath of the by-election, insisted that he can’t concede defeat since he believes he won the Malava seat, but his victory was awarded to somebody else.

He drew parallels with the swearing-in of the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga in 2018 as the people’s president by advocate Miguna Miguna, stating that he will also do so since he believes he is the one that the Malava people settled on.

According to Seth Panyako, he is about to storm his constituency and hold a homecoming ceremony where he will invite a lawyer to administer the oath as the people’s Member of Parliament, noting that the spirit of the late ODM leader is burning in him, even going a notch higher to declare himself Raila Odinga’s reincarnation.

“How can I concede defeat? I can’t concede defeat. I’m the winner; I’m going to be sworn in as one of the people’s Members of Parliament. I will be sworn in as the people’s Member of Parliament for Alava. You wait for my homecoming, and you will see,” Panyako said.

He continued to state that he has now understood the pain that Raila went through three times after losing elections, something that, according to him, his losses never reflected the will of the people. The shoe has now fit him after the Malava loss.

Panyako, who in the past, before the mini-poll, stated that if he lost, he would retire and wouldn’t continue seeking, like Raila used to do every time he was defeated in presidential elections, apologised for any bad statements he ever said about Raila, saying that what Raila went through then is what he is also going through.

He further stated that he is not afraid of state infiltration of his homecoming ceremony, where he will swear himself in, saying that he has already gone through a lot and he is not intimidated by anything.

Raila’s role in his political journey

With him drawing parallels from Raila Odinga, he revealed that it was Raila who introduced him to politics by giving him an ODM ticket that helped him to unsuccessfully vie for the Kakamega senatorial seat in 2017.

Seth Panyako scooped 20210 after being dwarfed by David Ndakwa, who managed to garner 21564 votes.