Jalang’o is a man with lofty ambitions.
He has gone from a mitumba dealer in Gikomba to being a hassling thespian getting close to nothing at the Kenya National Theatre to being one of the most highly sought after and celebrated radio presenters.
The man had set his eyes on the Siaya Gubernatorial seat in 2022 but reality hit him hard when elders from his community asked him not to challenge James Orengo; a man whom they hope will become the next leader of the Luo peoples.
Add to that the fact that he didn’t campaign at all for himself but won a landslide victory and you can get why he has decided against vying in Siaya.
Orengo won Siaya senatorial seat with 372,615 votes (98.35%) with his only rival garnering 6,236 votes (1.65%).
And when asked for a comment on the matter, what Jalang’o said was:
AFTER SOUL SEARCHING AND CONSULTATIONS…NA KUKAA NA WAZEE PALE NYUMBANI TUKIKULA KUKU NA KUKUNYWA CHANG’AA, TUKAONGEA PAMOJA NIKASKIA WAZEE WAKIONGEA WAKANIAMBIA; ‘THE DREAM IS BIG BUT TOO HUGE’ BECAUSE APPARENTLY, ORENGO JIMMY (JAMES ORENGO) MIGHT BE COMING BACK AFTER 5 YEARS AS SIAYA GOVERNOR. WHO WANTS TO COMPETE WITH SOMEONE THAT DOES NOT EVEN MAKE A POSTER, DOES NOT EVEN MAKE A T-SHIRT, DOES NOT HAVE A BILLBOARD?”
And he went on to say:
“SO I HAVE DECIDED TO BRING THE DREAM BACK HERE IN NAIROBI, BACK TO COUNTY NUMBER 047 NOT HEAD TO HEAD WITH SONKO BECAUSE SONKO IS MY GUY…THAT’S SUICIDAL, ASK KIDERO HE CAN TELL YOU. I WANT TO COME BACK AND TAKE LANGATA…MP LANGATA. ODM HAS NEVER LOST IN LANGATA FOR OVER THREE DECADES…I WANT TO GO BACK AND BRING THE PRIDE OF BABA IN LANGATA,”
At least here the numbers are in his favor as during the just concluded general elections, Jubilee’s Nixon Korir won with 41,086 votes against ODM’s Oscar Omoke who managed 39, 593 votes, a difference of 1,493 votes.
