By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 20 August 2026 - ODM leader Oburu Oginga has challenged landowners in Siaya to make a choice between fear of nuclear power and the region’s long-standing quest for industrial transformation.
Oburu, who is also Siaya Senator, wants communities whose land has been earmarked for Kenya’s proposed nuclear power project in Lenya to make land available for the development. He framed the project as part of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s wider vision of turning Nyanza into an industrial and energy hub.
But beneath the political appeal lies a more difficult business question: how can a multi-billion-shilling nuclear investment deliver regional prosperity without leaving host communities feeling dispossessed?
Addressing landowners in Bondo, Oburu said Raila supported the project because he believed reliable electricity would stimulate industrial growth across Nyanza.
“Raila meant well for the Nyanza region when he personally agreed that the project be hosted in Siaya County,” Oburu said.
He urged residents not to be swayed by what he described as fear campaigns against nuclear energy. The proposed plant, he argued, could strengthen Kenya’s electricity supply while creating an anchor for industries that require dependable power.
Yet the project faces a critical hurdle: community confidence.
Oburu acknowledged concerns over nuclear safety, pollution, radioactive waste and the long-term impact of hosting such a facility. He called on KenGen and the Nuclear Power and Energy Agency to engage residents more directly and address their concerns before implementation.
The senator also warned against repeating the experience of oil-producing communities in Nigeria, where local populations, he argued, failed to capture sufficient economic benefits from resources extracted from their land.
His message was therefore not simply that residents should surrender their land. It was that the community must negotiate a better economic bargain.
“We must assure our people of their safety with regards to waste discharged from nuclear plant,” he said, while calling for structures that would give local residents access to direct and indirect employment and other economic opportunities.
That demand could become one of the defining tests of the project.
For a nuclear plant to win lasting public support, electricity generation alone may not be enough. Host communities will want jobs, businesses, infrastructure, skills development, compensation and long-term revenue-sharing arrangements.
They will also want guarantees that land acquired for the project is valued fairly.
Energy Senate Committee chairman William Kipsang said the project would proceed once residents were sufficiently informed and outstanding issues were addressed. He said the government was aware of the concerns and would continue with public sensitisation.
More from Kenya
Kipsang linked the decision to place the project in Siaya to efforts by Raila and President William Ruto to reverse decades of perceived underinvestment in Nyanza.
But that political narrative may not, on its own, settle the land question.
Nominated Senator Beatrice Ogolla, vice-chair of the Energy Committee, promised that landowners would be compensated according to established valuation processes and prevailing market rates.
Bondo MP Gideon Ochanda went further, calling for a formal memorandum of understanding setting out what the community stands to gain from the project.
That could prove crucial.
Part of the land earmarked for the project is reportedly affected by ownership disputes. Ochanda said such disputes must first be resolved before the land can be released.
The emerging debate therefore goes beyond nuclear energy.
It is about who owns the future economic value created by a major public investment.
For Siaya, the nuclear proposal could bring construction activity, specialised jobs, infrastructure, power-intensive industries and new business opportunities. But those benefits will only become politically sustainable if local residents see themselves as partners rather than spectators.
Oburu's appeal to honour Raila's vision may carry political weight. But the stronger business proposition is one that gives the community a tangible stake in the project.
The challenge for KenGen and NuPEA is now to turn that promise into a credible economic model.
If they succeed, the nuclear project could become a catalyst for Nyanza's industrialisation.
If they fail, opposition over land, safety and compensation could become the project's biggest obstacle long before the first reactor is built.