31 Facts About James Orengo

James Aggrey Bob Orengo is a Kenyan lawyer, a human rights activist and politician who is the current governor for Siaya County.

James Orengo is one of the few Kenyan lawyers who have attained the professional grade of Senior counsel in the legal field, a title that he earned during the Kibaki administration.

James Orengo was elected as a member of parliament for Ugenya constituency in 1992 and served up to 1997, re-elected in 1997 and served until 2002.

James Orengo was appointed as a Minister of Lands from 2008 to 2013.

James Orengo was elected and served in the Senate of Kenya from 2013 to 2017 as senator for Siaya County.

James Orengo was born as James Aggrey Bob Orengo on 22 February 1951 in Kasipul Kabondo in Homabay County, Kenya, to Apolo Stefano Olunga Orengo, a senior police chief and Josfina Atieno Olunga Orengo.

James Orengo joined the Alliance High School in January 1965, and finished form six education in 1970.

James Orengo passed his bar examination after several attempts and thus admitted into the Kenya legal Council.

James Orengo has been known as a political activist since his days as a student leader at the university.

James Orengo led fellow students in many protests fighting against issues that he felt needed changing both at the university level and at the national level.

James Orengo was among the most prominent critics and activists against the single-party regime.

Alongside Raila and other notable politicians, James Orengo agitated for multiparty democracy, a new constitution, and free and fair elections, among other issues of public interest.

James Orengo says that being an activist has not always been easy and sometimes he had to flee the country for his own good.

James Orengo was exiled in Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe in the early 1980s to escape the repressive Kanu regime.

James Orengo was repatriated alongside Kenya Air Force soldiers who had tried to oust President Moi in 1982 in a swap with Tanzanian soldiers who had escaped to Kenya.

James Orengo describes the journey from Namanga to Naivasha prison in a police lorry as a harrowing experience.

James Orengo was kept in Kamiti and Naivasha's maximum prisons.

James Orengo became well known for his fight against the unjust rule and spent several years in detention as a result.

James Orengo was, together with six other MPs, part of the Seven Bearded Sisters.

James Orengo is a founding member of Muungano wa Mageuzi, a cross-party lobby group.

James Orengo was elected as an MP for Ugenya Constituency as a KANU candidate in a by-election in 1980.

James Orengo was elected as an MP in December 1992 on a FORD-Kenya ticket.

James Orengo was re-elected in December 1997 on a Ford-Kenya ticket but lost his seat in the 2002 general elections when he contested for the presidency on a Social Democratic Party ticket.

James Orengo's party lost all of its parliamentary places, as many SDP's leading figures had joined the NARC coalition.

James Orengo had been out of parliament since the 2002 elections after losing the seat to Archbishop Stephen Ondiek.

James Orengo was sworn in as a Minister for Lands in the new Coalition Government formed by the National Accord Act of 2008.

James Orengo revealed the sale of the Grand Regency hotel at 2.7 billion Kenyan shillings.

James Orengo announced the transfer of ownership from the Central Bank of Kenya to the new Libyan owners had taken place under the direction of Amos Kimunya, finance minister.

James Orengo was sworn in during 2013 as the senator for Siaya County.

In 2019, James Orengo was appointed by President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga as part of the task force team to implement Building Bridge Initiative.

James Orengo is married to advocate and renowned human rights expert Betty Kaari Murungi.