George Natembeya has warned that attempts by a faction within the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) to form a new political party could weaken the opposition and inadvertently help William Ruto secure another term in office.
Speaking during an interview on JKLive on Citizen TV on Wednesday, Natembeya described the dispute surrounding the Linda Mwananchi Movement as an internal matter within ODM. He said leaders allied to the Azimio la Umoja One Kenya Coalition were closely watching how the situation unfolds.
“On the story about Linda Mwananchi, I have never been in any of those events. This is basically an internal ODM issue and how they are relating with the Government,” Natembeya said. “For us in Azimio, we are basically bystanders viewing how events are unfolding and we hope it ends well.”
The governor, who distanced himself from either faction, said the current tensions appear to have split ODM into two camps—one supporting the broad-based government arrangement with President Ruto and another opposing it.
“It looks like there are two sides of ODM, one is supporting the current broad-based government led by the interim party leader Oburu Oginga, and the other faction led by Edwin Sifuna and James Orengo, who are not for the broad-based arrangement,” he said.
According to Natembeya, leaders opposing the arrangement are largely reiterating concerns that emerged when former ODM leader Raila Odinga joined the broad-based government with President Ruto.
Within the emerging factions, Sifuna is associated with the Linda Mwananchi wing, while Oburu is linked to the rival Linda Ground Movement, which supports cooperation with the Kenya Kwanza Alliance administration.
Natembeya cautioned that converting the Linda Mwananchi movement into a fully-fledged political party would split the opposition vote and ultimately benefit the ruling side.
“My personal view is that it will be a disaster, because their views are basically the views of the Opposition and as the Opposition we want to be united,” he said. “If they branch off and form another wing of opposition, they are going to reduce our votes and inevitably help Ruto get another term.”
His remarks come amid growing tensions within ODM over the implementation of the 10-point agenda agreed between the party and the Kenya Kwanza administration.
On Wednesday, Sifuna dismissed a progress report on the agreement, describing a briefing held at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) as a “charade.” He argued that the oversight committee had failed to release its final report by the March 7 deadline and vowed that his faction would present what he termed a “true report” outlining shortcomings in the implementation of the agenda.
