James Orengo: Decades in Power, Zero Tangible Development — The Record Speaks
For over four decades, James Orengo has been a towering figure in Kenyan politics. First making his mark as the fiery Ugenya Member of Parliament and currently serving as the Governor of Siaya County since 2022, he has undeniably mastered the art of national rhetoric. However, a closer look at the ground reveals a stark contrast: a glaring absence of brick-and-mortar development.
Despite billions of shillings pouring into Siaya from the national government, the reality for residents paints a grim picture. Hospitals are deteriorating, urban centers remain chaotic and unplanned, and the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP) appears to be nothing more than a document gathering dust. Tensions have reached a boiling point, with Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) threatening impeachment as the financial year draws to a close with virtually zero projects implemented.
Sources close to the county executive, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of victimization, describe a governor who excels at press conferences and high-profile legal battles in Nairobi, but treats Siaya like a distant constituency he visits solely for votes.
“He talks big about the ‘Nyalore Agenda’,” one senior MCA revealed, “but the agenda stops at the budget speech. The money never reaches the wards.”
Let us examine the dossier, page by page.
The Ugenya Years: A Legacy of Unaccounted Funds
Long before donning the gubernatorial hat, Orengo represented Ugenya constituency for multiple terms. During this era, the Constituency Development Fund (CDF)—now NG-CDF—was envisioned as the primary engine for grassroots transformation, meant to build schools, dispensaries, and rural roads. Instead, his tenure was routinely marred by controversy.
Older audits and public records consistently flagged Ugenya among the constituencies where hundreds of millions in Local Authority Transfer Fund (LATF) and CDF allocations were either misappropriated or tied up in stalled, ghost projects. The frustration culminated in 2011 when angry Ugenya youth threatened mass demonstrations, demanding accountability for vanishing funds.
Today, residents still grapple with a painful question: after more than 40 years of representation, where is the signature infrastructure that Orengo can proudly point to? There is no modern market, no flagship educational institution, and no fully equipped health center that stands as his undisputed legacy. It is a historical pattern characterized by grand promises and high-profile photo opportunities, followed by deafening silence as public funds seemingly evaporate.
The 2022 Takeover: Billions Flow In, Development Stalls
Fast forward to August 2022. Orengo was elected Governor on a wave of immense public hope. Over the last three financial years (2022–2025), Siaya County was entitled to approximately KSh 29.6 billion in equitable share and conditional grants. Records indicate the county actually received KSh 25.4 billion—about 86 percent of its due allocation. This is substantial taxpayer money specifically designated for vital infrastructure like roads, water systems, healthcare, and urban planning.
Yet, consecutive reports from the Controller of Budget paint a dismal picture of a chronic failure to absorb and spend development funds. In the current 2025/26 financial year, Siaya MCAs dropped a bombshell, going public with accusations that the county executive has implemented zero development projects despite operating with a fully approved budget.
With barely weeks left before the financial year closes, wards across Siaya, Bondo, Ugunja, and Gem sit completely idle. No new roads have been tarmacked. No boreholes have been drilled. No markets have been upgraded.
Misplaced Priorities: Travel Allowances Over Public Services
Adding insult to injury, financial reports indicate the county splashed nearly KSh 200 million on foreign and local travel during the 2024/25 period alone. This lavish recurrent spending occurred even as local hospitals cried out for basic medicines and life-saving equipment. During heated Assembly sessions, one visibly frustrated MCA thundered, “We approved the budget. The money came. Where is it?”
The Controller of Budget has repeatedly red-flagged Siaya’s abysmal performance regarding development expenditure. While the national average for county development absorption hovers around a modest 57 percent, Siaya consistently underperforms. Funds are routinely returned to the Treasury or left unutilized, leaving crucial community projects stalled. This failure cannot be entirely blamed on delayed disbursements from Nairobi; it is fundamentally a home-grown failure of priority, management, and execution.
Urban Decay and the Dust-Gathering CIDP
A deeper dive into the county’s administration exposes another critical failure: the state of Siaya Town and other major urban centers. Despite the county launching an ambitious 10-Year Physical and Land Use Development Plan (2023–2033), the reality on the ground is starkly different.
Urban spaces remain as chaotic and unplanned as they were prior to the advent of devolution. There are no modern sewerage systems, haphazard buildings sprout without proper regulatory approval, and poor drainage systems routinely turn streets into rivers during the rainy season. Even the previous CIDP frankly admitted to the lack of planned sewerage systems across all urban centers—a situation that has seen zero improvement under Orengo’s watch.
“Siaya is supposed to be the headquarters, but it looks like a village that forgot to grow,” lamented a local trader, echoing the widespread frustration of residents who watch neighboring counties like Kisumu and Kakamega rapidly transform their urban landscapes.
The current County Integrated Development Plan (2023–2027) was launched with massive fanfare, boasting lofty targets for agriculture, healthcare, infrastructure, and industrialization. Yet, Auditor-General reports explicitly state that “the targets contained in the Annual Development Plans and Budgets are incongruent with those contained in the CIDP.” Put simply, the CIDP is a beautifully bound book gathering dust on a shelf in the Governor’s office, while billions budgeted on paper translate to nothing on the ground.
Healthcare in Crisis: Rotting Infrastructure and Demoralized Staff
Perhaps the most heartbreaking chapter of this administration’s record concerns healthcare, which ironically consumes the largest single portion of the county budget. Auditor-General reports evaluating the Siaya County Referral Hospital and various Level 4 facilities are absolutely damning.
Audits have revealed an alarming 89 percent staff shortage in critical medical cadres. Facilities routinely operate without:
Medical officers
Anesthesiologists
General surgeons
Gynecologists
Pediatricians
Radiologists
Expensive medical equipment lies broken and unserviced, while essential drugs expire in stores. Desperate patients are either turned away or forced to purchase medicine from expensive private pharmacies, completely failing to meet the Kenya Quality Model for Health standards.
Medical staff, speaking under the condition of anonymity, express deep fury. “We face delayed salaries, lack protective gear, and deal with chronic medicine shortages,” shared a doctor at a sub-county hospital. “We strike and we protest, but the executive treats us like enemies while they continue to spend on travel and allowances.” Compounding the crisis are ghost-hiring scandals and bloated recruitment in non-essential departments, which are currently under investigation.
The Breaking Point: Impeachment Looms
The culmination of these failures has brought Siaya County to a breaking point. In recent weeks, MCAs from across the political divide have threatened to initiate impeachment proceedings against Governor Orengo and his entire executive committee. Their charge sheet is straightforward: a catastrophic failure to implement any meaningful development projects in the current financial year despite massive budgetary allocations.
County Assembly Speaker George Okode has sternly directed the executive to provide a formal response, warning that the Assembly will not abdicate its constitutional oversight role. As one MCA succinctly summarized the mood: “We cannot keep approving budgets only for the money to disappear into travels and recurrent spending. The people of Siaya elected us to deliver. Enough is enough.”
The Pattern Is Clear: Talk Big, Deliver Nothing
James Orengo undoubtedly built a formidable national reputation as a fiery opposition lawyer and a brilliant senator. He speaks eloquently on national television about justice, the spirit of devolution, and good governance. However, the public records—compiled from Controller of Budget reports, Auditor-General findings, County Assembly Hansards, and resident testimonies—tell an entirely different story.
Billions have been received since 2022, yet development expenditure remains chronically low. Urban centers are neglected, hospitals are crumbling, and statutory development plans are ignored. This is not mere political propaganda; these are documented facts reflecting the lived realities of mothers queuing for non-existent medicine, youth navigating dilapidated roads, and traders struggling in unplanned markets.
The people of Siaya deserve a governor who treats county funds as a sacred trust for public development, not an afterthought to national politicking. The dossier is now public. The question is no longer whether James Orengo has failed in development; the record has already answered that.
