Atandi calls for protest over Orengo’s plan to construct new county headquarters
By Arnold Ngure, September 8, 2025Alego-Usonga MP Sam Atandi has called on the residents of Siaya County to come out in numbers and protest over Governor James Orengo’s plans of building a new county headquarters on a land which hosts a university campus.
In a statement on Monday, September 8, 2025, Atandi opposed the move to construct the new county headquarters on the land which hosts the Siaya Farmers’ Training Centre (FTC), noting that the university would serve residents better than county offices.
“I am calling upon Siaya residents to come out on 11th September, 10:00 am to protest over the construction of a new county headquarters on the FTC land at the expense of the development of a fully-fledged university! This will be the mother of all protests,” Atandi remarked.
Hand over title deed
“James Orengo, a university needs 50 acres, not 25 acres! Hand over the whole title deed to Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University for the development of a fully-fledged university in Siaya. We do not need a new county headquarters!”
The statement comes just days after Atandi, while speaking during a public event in Siaya on August 31, 2025, warned Orengo against proceeding with the construction of the new county headquarters on the land.
“Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University has a satellite campus at the Siaya Farmers’ Institute, and that campus has about 1,100 students,” Atandi said.
“I recently received communication from the Vice Chancellor of the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University that they intend to close down that satellite campus because the land that the satellite is sitting on belongs to the county government of Siaya,” Atandi said.
“The county wants to build a new headquarters on that land, and has told the university to give way. I want to urge the governor of Siaya because I have been talking to him about this issue. We implored him to consider retaining that land for the sake of the expansion of the university, and not for building the county headquarters.”
Not listening
He indicated that pleas by Siaya leaders to Orengo to stop the construction of the headquarters had fallen on deaf ears.
“It seems the governor is not listening; I want to remind him today that according to the interests of the people of Alego Usonga, we would rather have the university than the offices of the county government,” Atandi remarked.
“We want to urge the governor of Siaya to stop that idea because it is not popular, not progressive, and is a selfish idea, where you want to build an office for yourself at the expense of the development of Siaya town,” he stated.
“That university will create a lot of progress, business opportunities, and many jobs courtesy of the students who are based there.”