PANDE: ODM internal wrangles betrays Raila’s future

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That the ODM party would face turbulence upon Raila Odinga’s exit was an inevitability. What is grossly disappointing is the manner in which it is fast degenerating. The movement today is not the ODM Raila built.

What was once an embodiment of resilience, principle, negotiation mastery and unwavering stand against authoritarianism has fast evolved into a battlefield of internal cannibalism.

Sadly, those enjoying the warmer side have dropped the ball on the party’s founding philosophy. Instead of sharpening its claws against external rivals, aggressively mobilising for the next general election, the party is obsessed with temporary power trappings, constantly devouring its own, silencing dissent and dismantling the very machinery that gave it national relevance.

Effectively, the party has lost vision of the presidency and even publicly denounced the possibility of negotiating for the deputy president’s role. This is happening even as the ODM-UDA merger continues to disenfranchise the real critical mass behind Baba’s legacy.

Silencing young voices

ODM’s underlying strength has always been the party’s ability to inspire the decisive youth, recharge the restless and rekindle hope in a feasible political future. Yet post-Raila, the party has turned its arsenal against the very army that has defended and propelled the national movement to the top.

Being bold, expressive, decisive and pro-people is now a crime in ODM. Rather, ambition attracts punishment, vocality is crushed and dissenters are branded enemies. This is not a strategy — it is suicide!

ODM is deliberately suffocating its youth, bleeding away the energy and expressly discarding Baba’s call for an intergenerational conclave that could have delivered at least the deputy presidency for the party before finally taking over the top seat in 2032. Sadly, going by the speed of greed, the largest national movement will potentially not see its silver Jubilee coming up in 2030!

Sifuna removal gross loss

It is undeniable that the removal of Edwin Sifuna as secretary-general is nothing short of a catastrophe. A scheme externally executed to split Baba’s army down the middle.

Sifuna has been a symbol of ODM’s aggressive urban pulse, a formidable bridge between the party’s liberation history and the aspirations of Kenya’s bold youth.

His defining qualification was the fact that he was young and sharp. Baba preferred this to the Luhya connotation. The SG’s ouster signals convenience for short-term order. Ultimately, it is a gross loss and deviation from inclusivity, accountability and dynamism puncturing the party at the core.

Jalango vs Sifuna and Babu Owino: Double Blow

Lang'ata MP Felix Odiwuor, popularly known as Jalang'o, is a publicly professed admirer of and believer in Babu Owino’s inevitable rise and imminent gubernatorial victory. Planting him as Nairobi’s senatorial candidate is a declaration of war against both Sifuna and Babu.

It is a direct sabotage of the Embakasi East MP’s gubernatorial ambitions. Largely, it is a setup of young people against themselves. By undermining both the senate and governor races in Nairobi, for the first time in four elections, ODM is effectively ceding two of the most strategic positions in the capital.

Thus, it is sacrificing two of its most lethal and promising assets.

This is not tactical politics — it is self-inflicted defeat now and in the future.

Babu, the prospective Nairobi governor, viable DP and indisputable future president will certainly rise steadily. Sadly, the myopic agents of ODM presently fighting him will be watching from afar! The enemy will be the refuge!

Collaboration or betrayal?

It is manifest that ODM’s current trajectory of “collaboration” with the ruling party is unfolding into a skewed partnership. The 10-point agenda cannot be accounted for less than 25 days into its expiry. Raila’s art of negotiation rooted in principle leverage, pursuit of justice and ardent defence of the people’s voice has been replaced by a vicious hunt for individualistic interests.

Let’s call it what it is: betrayal. What is happening now is not negotiation — it is surrender. Signing off ODM to convenience dishonours Raila’s legacy, cedes the future and reduces the movement to a pawn in someone else’s game. Perhaps the only remedy will be the popular vote in 544 days.

Final word

ODM is publicly eating itself alive! The internal cannibalism is dysfunctional and not rewarding in any way. It is fast depleting the party’s popularity. The silencing of dissent, the removal of loyal leaders and the sabotage of youthful ambition are not just tactical blunders but utter betrayals of Raila’s vision and his final call for inter-generational conclave.

Today, the party teeters on the edge of irrelevance for two avoidable grounds ¾ external control and internal sibling rivalry. ODM is being tricked into not just being a net loser in the next elections like the Jubilee Party in 2022, but also tricked into losing a bold Raila legacy and sacrificing a bright political future.

Unless the party reclaims its soul through an intergenerational conclave and dialogue, the planned National Delegates Conference will perhaps be the last.

Dr Pande is a former Raila Odinga surrogate and the 2022 youth presidential campaign lead