I was misquoted over meeting with Uhuru - Orengo

Siaya Senator James Orengo now claims he was misquoted by the Standard that reported he had a four-hour meeting with President Uhuru Kenyatta.

According to the paper, the meeting's agenda was to plan how ODM can capture power in 2022 with Jubilee party's help.

It was reported that the Senate Minority Leader had a lengthy meeting with Uhuru to explore ways of working with him to "help ODM fulfil its dream of capturing power."

“ODM is going for political power, and when we are holding these meetings our eyes are set on 2022. The contestation for power is going to come from a formation with ODM in it and formation of Jubilee where Uhuru is playing a role,” the Standard quotes him as saying.

But speaking at a fundraising event on Thursday, Orengo asserted that the engagement between the Orange party with the President is above board and is mainly aimed at strengthening his efforts to defeat corruption and impunity in the country.

"As a matter of fact, I only reiterated our well-known support to Uhuru's well-meaning efforts to combat corruption and shameless looting of public resources. What is wrong with that?" Orengo posed.

Sources close to Orengo told the Star that he is "deeply offended by the brazen attempts by the media to fan the political flames in the country with complete misrepresentation."

"The senator only affirmed that ODM as a party will be on the ballot, pitching for the Presidency in one shape or another and nothing else," the source said, adding that "it is regretful the paper sought to drag the name of Raila and Uhuru in reporting the issue said by the minority leader."

There has been unease in the Jubilee Party over the close relationship between Uhuru and ODM leader Raila Odinga ever since the handshake.

Ruto and Raila have been engaging in a war of words in the past few weeks.

The slur started with the exposure of the corruption scandals surrounding the construction of Arror and Kimwarer dams in Elgeyo Marakwet county, in which the DPP and the DCI say up to Sh21 billion was looted.

But Ruto and his lieutenants were swift to defend the projects, saying the corruption allegations were "fictitious, fake news, lies, and exaggeration."

The DP is on record saying only Sh7 billion was the amount in question and as a government, they would account for every shilling.

Raila shot back insisting that Ruto should "keep quiet and let the investigating agencies do their work without politicising the matter."