NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 9 – National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has declared that he will seek the presidency in 2032, even as he mounted a fierce defence of Orange Democratic Movemebnt’s cooperation with President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration.
Speaking in Homa Bay County, Mbadi said the decision by the Orange Democratic Movement to work with the government was made by party leader Raila Odinga and would continue beyond the 2027 General Election.
“Raila left us in broad-based government and even said that after 2027 we will continue working with the Kenya Kwanza government,” Mbadi said.
“And even if Raila didn’t say that, do you want us to join Gachagua, join Matiang’i or even Kalonzo? For us, we will work with Ruto past 2027 and in 2032 some of us are ready to be on the ballot as president of this nation.”
Mbadi’s remarks mark his clearest indication yet of personal ambitions to succeed President Ruto, and come at a time when ODM is grappling with internal dissent over its political direction and identity.
The Treasury CS also took direct aim at Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, questioning his loyalty to the party and suggesting that he had already crossed political lines.
“Someone like Sifuna will not remain in ODM because he is already conflicted. He is now selling the agenda of someone else. Why are you pretending? You cannot keep him in the party; he is gone. Allow him to go,” Mbadi said.
The attack was reinforced by a former ODM national chairman, who accused Sifuna of undermining party unity and misrepresenting his authority within ODM’s internal structures. Drawing parallels with past party disputes, the former chairman recalled the removal of former Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba during his tenure.
“When I was chairman of the party and Ababu Namwamba was behaving the way he is behaving, I made sure he had left. I convened a disciplinary committee against him as the secretary-general,” he said.
He dismissed claims that the ODM secretary-general controls key party documents, saying governance reforms had since been introduced.
“Let nobody cheat that the secretary-general is keeping the documents of the party. That one we changed; we created trustees. Sifuna doesn’t even know where the registration certificate of ODM is. If he has seen it, let him take a picture and post it on WhatsApp,” he said.
The former chairman insisted that ODM would remain intact regardless of individual exits. “He can leave with the people he will leave with, but the party will remain cohesive,” he said.
The remarks come amid visible divisions within ODM, with rival leaders issuing contradictory statements on the party’s engagement with the Kenya Kwanza administration. Mbadi accused some party officials of advancing parallel agendas while publicly questioning Raila Odinga’s role in the broad-based arrangement.
“We need a cohesive party, not a party where the leader says one thing and officials say another,” he said.
This comes days after Kisumu Woman Representative Ruth Odinga warned of turbulent times ahead for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), backing Secretary General Edwin Sifuna and a group of leaders resisting closer ties with President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
In a statement, Odinga defended Sifuna against mounting criticism within the party, saying attacks directed at him following a recent Citizen TV interview exposed shifting loyalties and growing intolerance of dissent inside ODM.
Sifuna and a section of legislators have been branded “rebels” for questioning the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in March 2025 between President Ruto and the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga.
But Ruth Odinga argued that raising concerns about the MoU’s implementation and party transparency should not attract vilification.
“He questions the very things we have been questioning,” she said, dismissing online attacks against the Nairobi Senator.
“As a signatory to the ODM account, if he questions where the money for choppers, big tents and ODM-branded T-shirts and caps used at the ‘Linda Ground’ conventions is coming from, why should anyone abuse him?” she asked.
At the centre of the dispute are ODM consultative rallies branded Linda Ground forums, spearheaded by Acting Party Leader Oburu Oginga and Party Chairperson Gladys Wanga.
The meetings are meant to gather views on whether ODM should enter pre-coalition talks with UDA.
