Etale: ODM documents are safe, intact with Board of Trustees

Orange Democratic Movement Communications Director Philip Etale speaking in Mombasa on May 3, 2026 / HANDOUT

Orange Democratic Movement Communications Director Philip Etale has dismissed claims that they do not have the ODM party certificate, saying that all official documents remain under the custody of the party’s trustees.

Etale said he had received clarification from the ODM Board of Trustees confirming that all party instruments are secure and intact.

He rejected the claims, maintaining that the party’s legal framework clearly places custody of all official records and instruments under the trustees.

“I’m informed by our trustees, the chairperson of the ODM Trustees Board, that in response to the question by Honourable Gideon Mungaro about party instruments, the Board of Trustees tells me that the party instruments, every document and any instrument of the party, are safe and intact with the Board of Trustees,” he said.

He spoke on Sunday during the ODM National Executive Council, parliamentary group and governors' retreat in Mombasa in readiness for the 2027 elections.

The three-day retreat follows a series of back-to-back youth conventions in the last week.

In late March, former Makadara MP Reuben Ndolo claimed that the Linda Mwananchi faction has the party’s official certificate.

In an interview on Radio 47, Ndolo asserted that the Linda Mwananchi camp holds what he termed the authentic ODM registration document.

“Sisi kama Linda Mwananchi ndiyo tuko na certificate ya ODM,” Ndolo stated.(“We, as the Linda Mwananchi side, are the ones with the ODM certificate.”)

ODM has in recent days convened meetings in Kisumu and Malindi attended by thousands of its youthful supporters.

The meeting, which started on May 1, through to May 3 in Mombasa, brought together members of the National Executive Committee, ODM parliamentary group, and party-elected governors.

The meeting is part of the party’s activation programme to popularise and strengthen the outfit.

The retreat centred on managing growing internal pressure, with sections of leaders reportedly uneasy with the direction the party has taken.

The retreat comes at a time when the party is experiencing deepening internal divisions that threaten to fracture the party, with the rival Linda Mwananchi faction piling pressure on the leadership.

The emergence of the Linda Mwananchi faction has further complicated the situation, with its leaders openly challenging the status quo and laying claim to the party’s top leadership.

Siaya Senator James Orengo, a member of the rival faction, has declared himself the party leader, insisting that Oburu’s election was irregular.

Their aggressive claim to leadership has rattled sections of the ODM establishment.

ODM national chairperson Gladys Wanga over the weekend dismissed Orengo’s self-declaration as noise, insisting the party’s structures have endorsed Oburu as the legitimate party leader.

“All of us know that ODM has structures and recently, through the Special Delegates Conference and all delegates endorsed Oburu as party leader,” Wanga said in Mombasa.

“The rest (you are hearing about) are just noise.”

The meeting also comes at a time when some members have raised concerns about the manner in which the party is being run.