Raila would have contested for President in 2027, Sifuna says

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna during an interview with The Standard in Nairobi on October 9, 2026. [Elvis Ogina, Standard]

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has said that he never thought that one year after former Prime Minister Raila Odinga passed away while undergoing treatment in India, Kenyans would be considering him as a serious presidential candidate.

Sifuna said that he was very certain that if Raila were alive today, he would be working towards contesting for the Presidency in 2027 since he believed this was the right moment, especially with President William Ruto falling out with the Mount Kenya region that supported him in 2022.

“Raila said something very significant three weeks before his death during his last speech at Argyle Grand Hotel during an ODM meeting, where he asked who told us the ODM party will not field a Presidential candidate during the 2027 general election,” said Sifuna.

 

He said that nobody anticipated that Raila would die very soon since he used to protect his allies and that when he passed away he knew the people who did not agree with him would come after him with threats of firing him every day for the eight years he was the party Secretary General.

“I would be lying to you if I said I imagined that I would be a Presidential candidate in 2027; the ODM party leadership wrote me harsh letters to release party properties after they removed me from office. Little did they know they were preparing me for something bigger,” said Sifuna.

To show Raila’s confidence in him, Sifuna said that when he found it difficult to explain the working relationship between ODM and UDA, when the Party created the Deputy Party Leader positions, he wanted to relinquish the Secretary General role to avoid the tough responsibility.

He said that they were in a meeting where Raila asked those who were interested in the Deputy Party Leader positions and that several leaders stood up, and that when Sifuna stood up also among them, Raila asked him to sit down with everyone in the room laughing.

“Raila made it clear that he still wanted me to remain as the Secretary General since I told him I would wish someone else who understood the broad-based arrangement given the job since I would like to always speak truth to power, but Raila said I was free to do that,” said Sifuna.

He recalls that the only time he thought he was going to lose the ODM Secretary General position was when Raila was mad at him in April 2021 while recuperating from COVID-19, and Sifuna announced that Raila was going to contest for the presidency in the 2022 general election.

Sifuna said that there was a meeting that was held with Raila at his home where he informed him that the deadline for declaration for contesting for the presidency was approaching, after which the ODM Party Leader gave him the go-ahead, with the story being a headline in the Newspapers on April 1, 2021

“Raila was very mad at me after reading the headlines that he was going to run for Presidency during the 2022 general election; he instructed me to tell the media houses that it was an April Fool’s Day prank. If Raila had a bad relationship with me, I would not last a day as the ODM Secretary General,” said Sifuna.

The Nairobi Senator said that he holds no grudges against those who engineered his removal and wishes them well and that it was upon the people of Kenya to decide the fate of the party after the 2027 general election, and that he was already the Equitable Party Leader courtesy of these shenanigans.

Sifuna told Journalists in Nairobi that the ODM Party that Raila left behind has been wrecked by Ruto, with all the critical decisions made having been sanctioned by him and that the President wanted to do away with anyone opposed to his rule within the ODM leadership.

“Ruto threatened to discipline me during the burial of Raila’s bodyguard as a founding member of ODM; now with Raila not being there to defend me, Ruto’s supporters in the party kicked me out as the ODM Secretary General, but it has served as a blessing in disguise,” said Sifuna.

Sifuna acknowledged that it has been a difficult moment for Raila’s family and supporters as they came to terms with the passing away of the great Pan-Africanist who put the interests of the country first at all times, something very few leaders could do at the moment.

He made it clear that it was unprocedural to remove him as ODM Secretary General with a Kangaroo Court trying him instead of facing a disciplinary committee, with his case handled in his absence and that to date he has not been told why he was not sent to the disciplinary committee.

Sifuna said that he was sure Baba sees that he tried his best to keep the party intact, but unfortunately key decisions about the Party affairs were being done elsewhere, which has led to the loss of its popularity less than one year since the party founder left, never to return.

“The ODM Party has gone through a transition; I want Baba to know that I kept the promise not to wreck the Party. There have been many interventions; there were many mediations, I would like to thank the party trustees Timothy Bosire and Amos Wako for their efforts,” said Sifuna.

He said that, contrary to some claims, he was never paid a salary as ODM Secretary General, with the position being voluntary, and that he could say something they had agreed on with Raila and some leaders would come after him and Raila would just look at them smiling.

Sifuna said that as the ODM Party Secretary General he used to plan for all by-elections, and when they won there was little acknowledgement but when they lost his rivals in the party would always bay for his blood, only for Raila to tell them to go slow on him.

He gave the examples of Kibra and Bonchari Constituencies by-elections where the ODM Party won despite some Party bigwigs labelling Imran Okoth and Pavel Oimeke as Sifuna candidates and if they lost they will ensure he was fired as the Party Secretary General.

“ODM has always been the party of the people where the interest of Kenyans mattered; the Party has changed fundamentally. I miss my friend, my mentor and leader Raila Odinga who would always find a solution to whichever problem that existed,” said Sifuna.

He said that Raila was in Dubai when some ODM members joined the Cabinet, with the ODM Party issuing a statement that they were doing it in their own capacity and had not been sent by Raila, saying that since Ruto was the declared President, they should work with him.

Sifuna said that Raila asked the four ODM Cabinet Secretaries to understand their work and allow them to be questioned by Parliament after they accused Sifuna of being harsh on them when they appeared before the various Parliamentary Committees and the Plenary.

He said that one of the toughest moments with Raila was during the Adani deal and that they always reminded him that they were doing what he taught them since after they got rumours that the Airport has been sold and the people were asking that things should be done in a transparent manner.

“We could tell that Raila was upset about how we were handling the Adani deal issue, but we told him that he had always told us that things must be done transparently, and we were able to convince him to see things our way eventually,” said Sifuna.