Controversial Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai has branded ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna and Deputy Party Leader Godfrey Osotsi cowards and disgrace to ODM.
In a statement, Alai accused the duo of sabotage for lighting political fires in ODM instead of voicing their concerns within the party lines.
“The cowards, Sifuna and Osotsi, have run away. But the people are determined and they must be chased from the party,” he said.
On January 3rd this year, Alai was involved in a deadly physical fight with Embakasi East MP Babu Owino over the uprising in ODM.
It is not clear why Sifuna failed to attend the ODM meeting at Vipingo and his absence will further fuel the political internal war in ODM.
The meeting was chaired by embattled Party leader Dr. Oburu Oginga. Its agenda remains closely guarded. But Sifuna’s fate may have been sealed by the top party echelons.
Among those present were Deputy Party Leader and Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir, Party Chairperson Gladys Wanga, Deputy Party Leader Simba Arati, and Party Director of Campaigns and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed, alongside other party officials.
However, the conspicuous absence of Sifuna, who serves as the party’s Secretary-General, and Osotsi, the third Deputy Party Leader, has sparked widespread speculation about the state of unity within the Orange Democratic Party.
Oburu has threated to call an NDC and stamp his authority and kill off internal dissent.
The missing leaders’ absence comes against a backdrop of escalating tensions within ODM.
At the centre of the discord is a disagreement over the party’s strategic direction: whether to align with or oppose the government following a bilateral agreement signed during the tenure of the late former party leader, Raila Odinga, which brought ODM into a broad-based government arrangement.
The internal strife has been particularly evident in the relationship between top party officials, with Sifuna and Junet engaged in a series of public disagreements that have exposed the fault lines within the party’s leadership.
Recently, Party Leader Oburu Oginga has held separate meetings with both Junet and Sifuna at his office on different dates, apparently in an attempt to mediate the growing rift.
The tension between the two leaders came to a head following a heated exchange over allegations related to the management of campaign funds during the 2022 General Election.
On Saturday, January 3, Sifuna publicly accused Junet of misappropriating funds that were intended for election agents, claiming that the Suna East MP had retained money provided by former President Uhuru Kenyatta rather than distributing it to party workers.
“On what day did Uhuru’s money become bad? Was it when you took that money and didn’t bring it to the party? When you kept Uhuru’s money instead of compensating agents, which allowed the current administration to defeat us?” Sifuna stated.
Junet then responded to the accusations, dismissing them as false and turning the tables on Sifuna by suggesting he was acting as Uhuru’s proxy within the party.
The Minority Leader maintained that the election funds never passed through him or official party channels. According to Junet, Uhuru had released the money to his brother, Muhoho Kenyatta, who subsequently assigned the task of recruiting and paying agents to another individual identified as Peter Mburu.
“Former President Uhuru Kenyatta released the funds meant for election agents to his blood brother, Muhoho Kenyatta. Muhoho then appointed one Mr. Peter Mburu to take charge of the recruitment and payment of agents,” Junet had explained in his rebuttal.
