Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna addressing ODM members during a three day celebration marking 20 years since the formation of ODM at the Mama Ngina Waterfront, Mombasa. Photo, Edwin Sifuna X.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna now says President William Rut orchestrated a plan to strip him of his role as Secretary General of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Speaking on Friday during a fundraiser for widows in Bomachoge Borabu Constituency, Kisii County, Sifuna claimed that close allies of the President attempted to push the scheme during a recent ODM founders’ dinner held in Mombasa.
“We met that Sunday or Saturday night so the President was like,is Sifuna still the Secretary General, or not?” he asked pointedly.
Accompanied by members of the Kenya Moja Alliance movement, Sifuna maintained a firm stance against what he described as President Ruto’s “failed and oppressive” style of governance.
The event was attended by MPs Caleb Hamisi (Saboti), Obadiah Barongo (Bomachoge Borabu), Clive Gisairo (Kitutu Masaba), Anthony Kibagendi (Kitutu Chache South), and Gathoni wa Muchomba (Githunguri).
Sifuna’s sharp remarks were echoed by several leaders present and come at a time when ODM is technically in a political partnership with the ruling UDA party under the Government of National Unity.
President Ruto himself was among the ODM founders who attended the dinner in Mombasa last Saturday.
The dinner formed part of a three-day celebration marking 20 years since the formation of ODM at the Mama Ngina Waterfront, Mombasa, an event dedicated to honoring the political legacy of the late ODM leader, Raila Amolo Odinga.
Sifuna said he is open to working with any leader willing to help remove President Ruto from power including former Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i.
“I was at KICC when ODM signed the 10-point agreement with UDA. Yet in his State of the Nation address on Thursday, President Ruto didn’t mention even a single item from that agreement,” Sifuna said.
He went on to accuse the government for failing to honor commitments in the agreement, claiming that abductions and killings of young people continues despite assurances to the contrary.
“I personally drafted that agreement, and I am still monitoring its implementation line by line,” he added.
Sifuna also cautioned ODM leaders who continue to embrace the Government of National Unity, saying only President Ruto and Raila Odinga truly know the full details of the deal they made.
“Only William Ruto and Raila Odinga know what they agreed on. Everyone else was just a spectator. And you spectators shouldn’t be threaten to remove Sifuna from the party leadership just because we are speaking the truth,” Saboti MP Caleb Amisi said while defending Sifuna.
Amisi went further, saying that the late Raila Odinga had a history of joining governments only to walk away when he felt it was necessary.
“This wasn’t the first time Baba worked with the government. He partnered with President Daniel arap Moi and left a year before elections. He served in the coalition government with President Mwai Kibaki and later walked out. He also worked with President Uhuru Kenyatta,” he said, suggesting that Odinga would have withdrawn from the current unity government by March 2026.
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