New Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party leader Oburu Oginga has broken his silence days after jetting back into the country from Dubai.
The 82-year-old made his first public appearance on Saturday, November 29, when he attended the wedding of Mohammed Noordin Mohamed Y. Haji, son of National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director-General Noordin Haji, alongside President William Ruto and other dignitaries.
Oburu appeared in high spirits on the day and had a brief interaction with other guests at the function, effectively ending speculation about his health.
When he stood to address the crowd, Oburu reiterated ODM's stance on collaborating with the government, even as mild cracks emerged in the party's unity in the wake of former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's demise.
"When Raila left us, he left us in the broad-based government, and we will continue with that," Oburu said.
While he did not dismiss the notion that ODM would field a candidate in the 2027 polls, Oburu appeared to suggest the party would back the current government for a second term.
He went on, "We will work with the President until the end. The end of the term is 2027, but from how things are going, we will plan accordingly because we are together."
The ODM party boss also weighed in on the recently concluded by-elections, taking a dig at opponents as he congratulated state-affiliated candidates for their wins.
"I would also like to appreciate people from UDA and ODM who have been working, and we trounced our opponents who were saying there was no broad-based government," Oburu said.
In the November 27 by-elections, ODM secured three parliamentary seats. In Magarini Constituency, the party's candidate Harrison Garama Kombe won decisively with 17,909 votes, beating his closest rival by more than double the votes
A similar scenario was witnessed in Kasipul, where Boyd Ongondo Were secured victory with 16,819 votes, ahead of his closest rival, Phillip Aroko, who had 8476 votes.
ODM also secured victory in Ugunja Constituency (Siaya County), where Moses Okoth Omondi was declared the winner after garnering 9,447 votes, comfortably defeating nine other candidates, including Wiper Party's Orodi Odhiambo.
