Siaya Senator and Senate Minority leader James Orengo is a respected lawyer having earned the title of Senior Counsel.
He has been known as a political activist since his days as a student leader at the university having led fellow students in many protests fighting against issues that he felt needed changing.
The Senator does not mince his words when it comes to addressing national issues. In March 2021, his claims that certain individuals in the Office of the President were keen to block Raila from ascending to the presidency grabbed headlines.
Orengo, who is also Raila's political strategist, equated the plot to the ones that happened during president Mwai Kibaki’s earlier days in office when the retired president's handlers supported Amani National Congress (ANC) leader Musalia Mudavadi for the presidency but still lost.
He also added that similar strategies were used by some Kenyan mafia who wanted to prevent the late president Daniel Moi from ascending to power.
In other times, he has gone to defend DP Ruto's camp when he opposed the National Cohesion and Integration Bill that had proposed five-year imprisonment or Ksh 5 million fine for anyone who brings up the 'hustler and dynasty' split.
Orengo said that criminalizing the hustler slogan was a threat to Kenya's democracy. He defended it further saying it was a form of free speech citing sedition laws that were used by past regimes to subjugate Kenyans into silence.
“To criminalize what somebody is saying is a great betrayal to the people of Kenya,” said the Senator.
He has also not shied away from criticizing the government. In a January 2021 address, Orengo faulted Uhuru and his government for engaging in excess borrowing and further burdening Kenyan taxpayers.
"I am hoping that the government of President Uhuru is not going to borrow any more money. We have borrowed enough and we have to learn to live within our means," he stated.