{"id":919105,"date":"2022-01-24T09:56:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-24T09:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/news\/2022\/01\/24\/governor-rasanga-pulls-out-of-parliamentary-race\/"},"modified":"2022-01-24T09:56:16","modified_gmt":"2022-01-24T09:56:16","slug":"governor-rasanga-pulls-out-of-parliamentary-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/01\/24\/governor-rasanga-pulls-out-of-parliamentary-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Rasanga pulls out of parliamentary race"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"card-text\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div class=\"art-img row mx-md-0\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/dyruxyb3r9jupsd61ee6cdf2c28e.jpg\" class=\"img-fluid w-100\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"bg-light mb-3 p-3 row mx-md-0\">\n<p><strong>Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga. <\/strong>[David Njaaga, Standard]\n<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Siaya\u00a0governor\u00a0Cornel\u00a0Rasanga\u00a0has\u00a0pulled\u00a0out\u00a0of the Alego Usonga parliamentary race. <\/p>\n<p>Mr\u00a0Rasanga\u00a0pulled\u00a0out\u00a0of the race, a year after he had publicly declared that he was going for the seat after retiring from the gubernatorial seat.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>During past media interviews at the beginning of last year, the\u00a0governor\u00a0had announced his plans to vie for the parliamentary seat.<\/p>\n<p>But at a funeral in Alego last December,\u00a0Rasanga, said he had decided to focus on national politics and help ODM leader Raila Odinga with his national presidential campaigns.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy focus henceforth is to ensure my party leader gets maximum votes ahead of the General Election. This is what I want to dedicate my time to. I will then be part of his government after the elections,\u201d said\u00a0Rasanga.\n<\/p>\n<p>His close allies have told\u00a0<em>The Standard<\/em>\u00a0yesterday that the\u00a0governor, who is serving his final term, is no longer keen on the parliamentary seat. <\/p>\n<p><div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"j59AnmTBXtA\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Focus on Cornel Rasanga, the first elect Governor of Siaya County | Person of Interest\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j59AnmTBXtA?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>But when contacted,\u00a0Rasanga\u00a0denied that he had even declared interest in the seat in the first place.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen did I declare that I am running for this seat? I have never said anywhere that I am running for Alego Usonga parliamentary seat. Those are just creations of the media,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Last October, while receiving defectors from Wiper party to ODM at his Segere home,\u00a0Rasanga\u00a0had asked them to consider his parliamentary bid even as he endorsed Senator James Orengo to take over from him as\u00a0governor.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy is everyone in a hurry for my announcement? I will make my announcement once my party leader makes his. Is it wrong for someone to go for a lower seat from what he is currently holding? But I want the people of Alego to know that I am keen on Alego Usonga seat,\u201d he had announced. <\/p>\n<p>Last September, while commissioning a maternity wing at Nyathengo dispensary in\u00a0 North Alego,\u00a0Rasanga, announced that he would be vying for Alego Usonga parliamentary seat after retiring from the County seat.\n<\/p>\n<p>Rasanga\u00a0had even met ODM delegates from all the six wards in Alego Usonga Sub-county and made his intention clear to them.\n<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday, he was yet to decide who to support for the Alego Usonga parliamentary race.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know if I have to support anyone, I will make it public. You will hear it from me. Right now, if I choose who I am supporting, what happens to the others on the race? It is not good for me to give such information right now,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n<p>But\u00a0Rasanga\u2019s\u00a0close allies who spoke to The Standard said, he was keen on supporting Dr Nicholas Kut because his relationship with the incumbent has not been warm.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>Kut, who is also a lecturer, worked as a member of the Siaya public service board for a period of six years, under\u00a0Rasanga.\n<\/p>\n<p>Analysts said\u00a0Rasanga\u00a0cannot be wished away since the Alego people voted for him twice as a block.\n<\/p>\n<p>Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi, on the other hand, is confident that he is going to break the jinx, where no MP in Alego has served for more than one term.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have served the people of Alego well and I have no doubt of my re-election. I have delivered my promises to them and still doing so. I have also represented them well in parliament,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n<p>Politician William Oduol, who vied against\u00a0Rasanga\u00a0in 2013, and had declared interest to run for Alego Usonga parliamentary seat also quit the race.\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI will not be going for the parliamentary seat as earlier planned. After a thorough consultation with other leaders in the county, I have decided to work with Orengo as he seeks election for the county top seat,\u201d said. Also in the race is former MP Muluan, who has said he will be running on an ODM ticket.\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"justify-content-start\">\n<button class=\"tags-btn mr-4 mb-3 load-more\"><br \/>\nCornel\u00a0Rasanga<br \/>\n<\/button><br \/>\n<button class=\"tags-btn mr-4 mb-3 load-more\"><br \/>\nAlego Usonga<br \/>\n<\/button>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.standardmedia.co.ke\/article\/2001435375\/governor-rasanga-pulls-out-of-parliamentary-race\">Source: The Standard Media Kenya<\/a> <a \"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 Siaya Governor Cornel Rasanga. [David Njaaga, Standard] Siaya\u00a0governor\u00a0Cornel\u00a0Rasanga\u00a0has\u00a0pulled\u00a0out\u00a0of the Alego Usonga parliamentary race. Mr\u00a0Rasanga\u00a0pulled\u00a0out\u00a0of the race, a year after he had publicly declared that he was going for the seat after retiring from the gubernatorial seat.\u00a0 During past media interviews at the beginning of last year, the\u00a0governor\u00a0had announced his plans to vie for the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-919105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}