Sifuna: Raila, ODM had no hand in Ruto Cabinet picks

ODM Party Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna at KICC, Nairobi. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Party Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna has dismissed claims that the political outfit has joined President William Ruto’s government.

This is a day after four of the party’s top officials accepted appointments to various Cabinet posts.

The four include Deputy Party Leaders, Wycliffe Oparanya and Ali Hassan Joho, Party Chairman John Mbadi and the Secretary for Political Affairs, Opiyo Wandayi.

Their acceptance of the presidential appointment has drawn accusations of betrayal from Kenyans who consider ODM as a ‘pro-people’ party as well as their Azimio coalition members who have rejected an alliance with the troubled Kenya Kwanza administration.

 Sifuna, on Thursday said that a decision to crossover from the opposition to the government side must be agreed upon through a party resolution of all members and must be formalised through valid legal instruments, conditions he believes have not been met.

“If ODM made a resolution to join a coalition or a government of national unity with the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), I would say it. I’m not afraid. I don’t fear Gen Z, Ruto, or Raila,” said Sifuna while speaking to Citizen TV.

According to the Nairobi Senator, the appointees privately and directly negotiated their deals with Ruto while further suggesting that Party Leader Raila Odinga must have been kept in the dark; explaining Ruto’s decision to make the announcement when Odinga was on a foreign trip.

“If Raila was asked to name people capable of turning around Kenya, and address demands made by the Gen Z, he wouldn’t present four names of old men,” argued Sifuna, adding “there is no way Raila can present four names and pick two from one region in a diverse party like ODM.”

On Tuesday this week, both ODM and Raila warned its members against accepting any offers from the government, but failed to specify any action to be taken against such members as was the case with errant elected leaders who faced disciplinary for allying with Kenya Kwanza.

“We expect the resignations of these people from party positions before they face the vetting panel. The law does not allow them to join the Cabinet as partisan members of political parties,” said Sifuna.

The Nairobi Senator has faulted President Ruto for reappointing many Cabinet Secretaries that were rejected by Kenyans leading to the dissolution of the initial Cabinet.

ODM finds itself on the same spot it did after the March 9, 2018 surprise truce between Raila Odinga and his then arch nemesis, former President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The younger politicians in the Party have expressed discomfort with the recent development in a move interpreted as a way of keeping up with the young Kenyans calling for a complete overhaul of the current administration, including the resignation of President William Ruto.