In a dramatic political shakeup that has sent shockwaves through Kenya’s opposition landscape, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) removed its Secretary General Edwin Sifuna on Wednesday, escalating a bitter internal war over the party’s future direction and its relationship with President William Ruto’s administration.
The National Executive Committee (NEC) voted to oust Sifuna during a tense meeting in Mombasa, citing indiscipline and violations of party protocol. Catherine Omanyo, one of the party’s Deputy Secretary Generals, will act in the position temporarily as the party navigates its deepest crisis since the death of founding leader Raila Odinga in October 2025.
Sifuna’s removal marks the climax of months of infighting between a pro-government faction eager to form a pre-election coalition with Ruto’s UDA party and a rebel wing led by Sifuna that insists ODM should maintain its independence and field its own presidential candidate in the 2027 elections.
The fault lines within ODM became evident shortly after Raila’s passing, when a faction led by Oburu Oginga and Kisumu Governor Gladys Wanga began pushing for closer ties with the Ruto administration. President Ruto himself has been openly courting ODM, promising that a pre-election coalition would deliver him a landslide victory of up to three million votes in 2027.
“Azimio without ODM is dead,” Ruto declared recently, underscoring his belief that the opposition coalition cannot survive without ODM’s participation and that the party holds the key to his electoral dominance.
During Raila’s burial ceremony, Ruto made a pointed vow to prevent dissenters from turning ODM into an opposition force, a statement that many now view as foreshadowing the current purge of party rebels like Sifuna.
The ousted Secretary General and his allies have not gone quietly. Ruth Odinga and Edwin Sifuna claim that the government is bankrolling ODM’s so-called “Linda Ground” rallies — grassroots meetings ostensibly meant to strengthen the party but which critics say are being used to consolidate control by the pro-Ruto faction.
Sifuna insists that no funds for these rallies have been drawn from ODM’s official accounts, raising questions about where the money is coming from and who is ultimately pulling the strings. “This is nothing short of a hostile takeover funded by State House,” one party insider told reporters on condition of anonymity.
ODM now finds itself at a critical juncture. With Sifuna sidelined and the pro-government wing firmly in control of the party machinery, the path toward a coalition with UDA appears increasingly clear. However, the move risks alienating a significant portion of the party’s grassroots base and long-time supporters who view cooperation with Ruto as a betrayal of ODM’s founding principles.
The question now is whether ODM will emerge from this crisis as a unified force ready to negotiate with the government from a position of strength, or whether it will splinter into competing factions, with some members breaking away to form a new opposition movement.
For President Ruto, the turmoil within ODM represents a golden opportunity to neutralize the opposition ahead of 2027. For Kenya’s democratic landscape, however, the weakening of a major opposition party raises troubling questions about political pluralism and the health of the country’s multi-party system.
As Catherine Omanyo steps into the acting Secretary General role, all eyes will be on how she navigates these treacherous waters — and whether Edwin Sifuna and his allies will mount a comeback or chart a new political course altogether.
