Raila Odinga's spokesman Dennis Onyango has down played rift between his boss and Senate Minority Leader James Orengo even as the media maintained that the two are at loggerheads.
According to the Sunday Nation, Mr Odinga is concerned with Orengo's public utterances and at times, he has dispatched National Assembly Minority Leader John Mbadi to 'set records straight' on Orengo's statements.
“It should be noted that their remarks are not attributable to ODM. Our people must be responsible in their statements going forward, bearing in mind that the handshake had nothing to do with the next General Election,” he said Saturday in reference to Orengo's remarks.
Particularly, Mr Odinga is allegedly concerned with Orengo's remarks that he had a secret MoU with President Uhuru Kenyatta. Also, he's said to be angry with Orengo over remarks he made in December when Uhuru toured Kisumu.
But Onyango, a long serving spokesman of Odinga, says the two are in good terms and that media is misreporting. He says Orengo's personal remarks on certain issues is often misinterpreted by people.
“Why don’t you talk to Jim (as friends and admirers call the lawmaker) over that? My understanding on the impeachment debate is that he was speaking from a purely legal perspective without minding the political ramifications of the same,” Mr Onyango said on phone.
The recent impeachment debate against DP William Ruto is also said to have rattled s section of ODM leaders allied to Odinga, with some accusing Mr Orengo of driving a wage between Uhuru and Mr Odinga.
Sources say that President Uhuru Kenyatta has also expressed his reservations against Orengo, who talked about a four hours meeting he purportedly had with him at State House. But Orengo maintains the impeachment debate has nothing to do with Odinga.
“I have heard of that narrative,” he said, before adding: “There are decisions I have taken in the past that people frowned upon but in the end I was vindicated. Like when I moved a motion to impeach President Moi. When I seconded the motion by the late Senator Otieno Kajwang’ to censure the late VP George Saitoti. In the end, that pressure saw Moi fire him.”