Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo, Senior Counsel, has been described as a smart, intelligent, eloquent and great debater in the National Assembly and on media talk shows.
When trouble started in ODM last week, party leader Raila Odinga’s spokesman Dennis Onyango referred to some unnamed leaders as “demagogues known only for discussing politics in flawless English and legal jargon on the floor and public rallies”.
It is now emerging he referred to Otiende and Siaya Senator James Orengo.
Otiende, 49, is a lawyer with about 25 years of legal experience as a partner at Rachier and Amollo Advocates.
He was part of the team that won Raila's 2017 presidential election petition against President-elect Uhuru Kenyatta. The team was led by his political and ideological soul mate, Orengo.
Together, the lawyers are now in trouble over what some say is their position on BBI.
Against ODM’s official position, they maintained the Bill should be amended over some unconstitutional clauses. In particular, Otiende said the proposed 70 new constituencies are unconstitutional.
He was on Tuesday kicked out as vice chair of the influential Justice and Legal Affairs Committee.
Otiende told Citizen TV on Thursday, "If your party decides that you are not executing that responsibility the way they want, they have the discretion to remove you. This was not about BBI and I do not have an issue with my party leader”
However, Otiende was in the first instance the best choice for ODM in the slot given his grasp of the law.
In 2009-10, Otiende was a member of the Committee of Experts on the 2010 Constitution and later became the first Ombudsman between 2014 and 2016, when he resigned to run for office.
He is smart, topping Rarieda district in his primary school national exam, and at Maranda School, where his fee was paid by well-wishers, among them Catholic missionaries.
He was then admitted to the University of Nairobi to study law. His fee was paid by his sister, Elizabeth Ongoro, former Kasarani MP and ODM nominated senator, using a stipend then called 'boom'.
At UoN, he studied with the likes of Prof Migai Aketch, Kisumu-based advocate David Otieno and NMG legal officer Owino Sekou.
In a past interview with LSK Nairobi branch, Otiende described himself as “a simple village boy, born to a village carpenter and housewife in a large family of 10, mostly girls”.
He also describes himself as an activist who wants things to change, which inspired him to join politics.
During a human rights trip to Geneva, he says he realised some of the laws MPs passed were not in tandem with the Constitution.
"Someone challenged me and said if you feel passionate about this, why don't you join Parliament," he said in the LSK interview.
It now emerges it is the quality of law he sought to enhance that has gotten him into trouble.
Foreseeing the current situation, Otiende in the 2019 interview identified party politics as the biggest challenge.
“If the party makes a decision that you may or may not agree with for a number of reasons, then the dilemma is do you stand with the party or your conscience?
He noted that if the matter does not affect one’s conscience and integrity, it would be right to stand with the party because there must be some level of discipline.
“But if it touches on your personal conscience and belief, then you must have the courage to stand your ground, even if it could cost your membership or your continuance to serve as MP".
Otiende said if he would find himself in a situation where his conscience conflicts so fundamentally with either the position of the party or Parliament, he would voluntarily resign as MP.
Some ODM stalwarts now say Otiende sent Raila a text message threatening to resign from JLAC. He denies it.
Succession politics in Luo Nyanza has been cited as the reason behind Otiende and Orengo's troubles.
Political commentator Collins Ajuok thinks Otiende is not as influential politically in the region compared to Orengo and the likes of Evans Kidero and Governor Anyang' Nyong’o.
“In fact it is the Supreme Court performance that brought him to the core of Luo imagination. On a given day, his sister Elizabeth Ongoro would have ranked higher than him politically before that,” Ajuok told the Star.
The Star columnist, however, opined that Otiende is thrust forward by the dynamics of Luo succession now, and the Siaya county formations in 2022.
“He is in the Orengo team as deputy governor or senator. He comes from the Asembo-Uyoma clan of the Luo, Orengo from the Ugenya one, meaning their team is giving the remaining slots to people from Sakwa, Gem and Alego. He is basically a "balance" on the team,” Ajuok said.
But while his friend, Orengo, said in the Senate he will not be intimidated and would stand by his conscience, Otiende toned down saying while the “schemers” want him out of JLAC, he will take it in grace and stride”.
Will he choose the party line over his conscience? Only time will tell.
