NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 29 — The Orange Democratic Movement-led Azimio la Umoja Movement is set to be registered as a political party in the coming week following the signing into law of the Political Parties Amendment Bill by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Thursday.
“I am happy you have joined ODM which is a member of the new big group we are forming called Azimio la Umoja and it will be registered next week,” ODM leader Raila Odinga told party stalwarts even as he said the party could have been registered as early as Friday, January 28.
Odinga unveiled the Azimio la Umoja Movement on December 10, 2021 when he formally declared his presidential bid during a National Delegates Congress held at the Kasarani Sports Complex in Nairobi.
He unveiled the outfit after an endorsement by the Mount Kenya Foundation, a group of influential businesspeople from President Kenyatta’s central region backyard.
He jointly, with President Kenyatta, rallied lawmakers allied to an informal handshake alliance to vote for the bill amid opposition by legislators allied to Deputy President William Ruto, mostly drawn from the governing Jubilee Party, which has since disintegrated over internal wrangles.
Odinga is banking on the movement to bolster his presidential bid by allowing regional parties to join without folding their outfits.
The recognition of an alliance as a political party in law is a first in Kenya.
Promoters of the Bill said it would address concerns of trust among coalition members citing instances where parties forming coalitions have been shortchanged by dominant players.
Odinga has himself suffered condemnation from past allies for shortchanging them.
The National Super Alliance (NASA) comprising of ODM, Wiper, ANC and FORD Kenya, collapsed in 2021 after three principals accused Odinga of betrayal and lack of trust.
NASA’s collapse was triggered by among other things, Odinga’s decision to negotiate a post-election truce with Kenyatta in March 2018 following a deeply divisive election in 2017 which the former Prime Minister contested in court.
ODM was also accused of withholding political parties’ funding allocated to parliamentary parties by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties.
