Migori Senator Eddy Oketch has renewed his push to de-escalate tensions within the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party amid conflict between Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed.
Oketch, who spoke on Thursday, January 8, during an interview on Radio Citizen, called on the ODM party leader, Oburu Odinga, to address the duo's fallout within seven days.
He emphasised the urgency of the matter, warning that further delays in resolving the stalemate could immensely impact the party's future political prospects.
"This is why I am insisting on the seven-day timeline. I have told our party leader, Oburu Odinga, that within the next seven days, we must deal with this conflict involving Sifuna," Oketch stated.
During the interview, the lawmaker also disclosed that he withdrew the motion seeking to expel the ODM Secretary General from the party after a phone call with Oburu.
"I was holding a very strong position against Sifuna, but immediately, my party leader called me on the phone, and I changed my mind," the Migori Senator disclosed.
Oketch went ahead to express his willingness to extend an olive branch to Sifuna, insisting that his recent push for the latter's expulsion from the party was not personal.
He, however, criticised Sifuna for allegedly attempting to divide ODM by making what he labelled as false accusations against Junet, who, according to him, was a senior member of the party.
"Sifuna is a leader of Junet, but he could have solved these things internally. I do not have any personal beef with Sifuna, and we should meet and talk, but we must respect the party," he reiterated.
"I want to tell Sifuna that we will break this party if we have conflicting ideas because these conflicting ideas will bring confusion among our party supporters," he added.
Sifuna Pledges Dialogue to End ODM Tensions
Oketch's latest remarks come a day after Sifuna expressed his willingness to embrace dialogue to end the internal wrangles in the best interest of the party.
Sifuna made the remarks on Wednesday, January 7, while attending the late Raila Odinga's posthumous birthday party at the former Prime Minister's home in Karen, Nairobi.
"It will not be me to wreck Raila's party. I made that promise to Raila. There is no one in ODM I will not sit down with. I am very prepared to extend that olive branch and sit down to iron out our issues," said Sifuna.
His comments followed Odinga's wife, Ida Odinga's appeal for the party leadership to address the challenges facing ODM, further warning that without proper direction, the internal wrangles could undermine Odinga’s founding ideals for the party.
