[COTU Secretary General Francis Atwoli in a past event. He has backed lawyer James Orengo to take over from Raila Odinga in future. Photo/Nation]
COTU Secretary General has backed lawyer James Orengo to take over from Raila Odinga as Nyanza kingpin should the latter retire from politics.
For the third time in as many years, Odinga is set to face President Uhuru Kenyatta in yet another epic battle of titans.
And Atwoli, a long time social activists says Orengo’s immense experience earns him status of a sober leader who can lead people at the time of need.
“I already know that Orengo will take over from Raila. The two come from the same school of thought and I think he can give directions to a community.
“His popularity has grown exponentially and he is respected from across all communities sin the country. He has a bright future,” he said, adding that Odinga should reduce his hard stand on IEBC.
Despite Orengo being younger than Odinga, he was first to make it in electoral politics after winning Ugenya parliamentary seat in 1980.
Odinga’s first major assault on political arena came a decade later after winning Lang’ata parliamentary seat, a position he held for two decades.
At some point in 2002, Orengo lost his parliamentary seat when he opposed Odinga’s political stand and bounced back five years later after winning the seat on Odinga’s ODM party.