The United Opposition has expressed its willingness to welcome the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) into the opposition.
Speaking on Thursday, October 23, Mukhisa Kituyi, the United Opposition's Spokesperson, revealed that any disgruntled member within ODM was welcome to join the group.
As per Kituyi, certain members of the party represented the core ideals of the Opposition, with the former UN boss crediting ODM for providing the foundation of Opposition politics in the country.
“A lot of the people who are in ODM are ideologically closer to Kituyi than quite a number of people I work with in the Opposition. So I do not think we will see them in any way as strangers coming into the house,” he noted.
“I think typically, mainstream ODM belongs with us (United Opposition). There is a section of ODM which has had a national appeal. This national appeal did not come after campaigning for people to get into Ruto’s government. They got the appeal because they stood for the values that made them the leaders of the Opposition,” Kituyi added.
Even so, Kituyi did not name the ODM members who would possibly join the Opposition, preferring to let Kenyans read in between the lines instead.
His comments came amid uncertainty within ODM after the demise of its party leader, Raila Odinga.
Before Raila's passing, cracks had begun emerging within ODM, with members split on whether to support the party’s broad-based arrangement with President William Ruto or address government inefficiencies that were prevalent during the partnership.
Certain members of the party, who were co-opted into government after the partnership, supported Ruto's government, while others, like Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, voiced their frustrations over the government's failure to adhere to the ten-point agreement.
After the passing of Raila, the cracks have become more defined, with a battle for its leadership brewing between several factions of the party.
Deputy Party Leaders Governors Abdulswamad Sheriff Nassir and Simba Arati, and National Chairperson Gladys Wanga have all maintained that the party will be part of government after the 2027 General Election and work with Ruto.
However, it has previously been known that some members of the party, including Sifuna and the members of parliament for Saboti and Embakasi East, Caleb Amisi and Babu Owino, have different ideas about ODM forming a government.
Separately, Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo posited that ODM should seek a new working arrangement with UDA before 2027, disputing a merger with Ruto's United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
This has been further compounded by Raila’s final utterances in public, where he revealed that ODM would front a presidential candidate in the 2027 polls.
Currently, the leadership of ODM has been bestowed on Siaya Senator and Raila’s brother Oburu Odinga, with the party yet to officially disclose its next steps post-Raila.
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