NAIROBI, Kenya Feb 9 – Divisions within the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) spilled into the open after National Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi launched a scathing attack on party Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna, accusing him of disloyalty and pushing an agenda at odds with the party’s current direction.
Speaking at a political gathering in Homa Bay County, Mbadi questioned Sifuna’s continued stay in ODM, arguing that the Nairobi senator was already conflicted and effectively serving the interests of other political forces.
“Someone like Sifuna will not remain in ODM because already he is 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 remarks come amid growing unease within ODM over its participation in the broad-based arrangement with President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration, a political realignment spearheaded by party leader Raila Odinga.
While ODM acting party leader Oburu Odinga has defended the cooperation as a strategic move in the national interest, some ODM leaders including Sifuna have publicly expressed discomfort with the arrangement, arguing it risks diluting the party’s opposition identity.
Mbadi, a former nominated MP ,before joining President Ruto’s Cabinet, dismissed such criticism, insisting that the decision to work with Kenya Kwanza was made by Raila himself and endorsed by the party.
“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 Rigathi 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.”
In a sharp escalation of the internal feud, a former ODM national chairman also took aim at Sifuna, questioning his authority and influence within the party’s structures. Drawing parallels with past internal battles, he recalled how former Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba was pushed out of ODM during his tenure as chairman.
“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.
The former chairman dismissed claims that the ODM secretary-general controls key party documents, saying the party had since restructured its governance to safeguard its assets.
“Let nobody cheat you that the secretary-general is keeping the documents of the party. That one we changed we created trustees,” he said.
“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 added that while individuals could leave the party with their supporters, ODM itself would remain intact.
“He can leave with the people he will leave with, but the party will remain cohesive,” he said.
The rift has been widening between ODM leaders firmly backing broad based government arrangement and those warning that the arrangement could alienate the party’s base and blur its ideological identity. The tension has been particularly visible in recent weeks, with rival ODM leaders issuing contradictory public statements on the party’s relationship with the government.
“We need a cohesive party not a party that the leader says this then the officials say the other.They are in Busia selling an agenda we don’t know and busy saying that Raila didn’t take us to broad based,who took Mbadi to broad based then,”Mbadi expressed.
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.
