The Orange Democratic Movement party has issued the Senator for Siaya County James Orengo with the party’s direct ticket to contest for the Siaya gubernatorial seat in the August general election.

In a move that has sparked controversy within the party, Orengo has joined the ranks of ODM aspirants who have had it easy in the primaries only waiting to face off with their opponents from the other parties.

An aspirant in the Siaya gubernatorial race, George Mugoye claimed he had already paid the nomination fees and campaigned throughout Siaya.

Mugoye wondered why the party sent the other aspirants on a wild goose chase if they already had settled on a candidate.

"Why did they allow us to pay nomination fees and campaign throughout Siaya when they knew they would give the ticket to one of us? This is totally unfair," Mugoye protested.

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Mugoye said the party should depict democracy as its name reads.

He denounced an opinion poll ODM conducted to determine the nominees.

"The ODM party needs to be democratic, just like its name suggests. We were told that the party conducted an opinion poll and settled on the nominees. Where and when did they do that?" Mugoye said.

Orengo has joined the ranks of other ODM aspirants who were handed direct nomination by the party, including Gladys Wanga, Paul Otuoma among others.

In the August general election, Orengo will face it off in the general election with the former Rarieda Member Parliament Nicholas Gumbo who joined Governor Ali Roba’s United Democratic Movement (UDM)