Stop raising the dead, Oburu tells Azimio leadership

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The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), party leader Dr Oburu Oginga has warned that making leadership changes in the Azimio coalition is trying to raise the dead.

Without directly addressing former President Uhuru Kenyatta, Dr Oginga termed the exercise that saw Wiper party leader Kalonzo Musyoka taking over from the late Raila Odinga as Azimio leader, a waste of time.

“Somebody should not be floating something which is moribund. He knows it’s dead, and you are raising the dead from the grave. We are going to move out of it,” Dr Oginga declared, making clear that ODM will officially exit the coalition.

Speaking in Mombasa ahead of the ODM’s National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting Dr Oginga left no ambiguity in his critique, saying that as long as ODM was the Azimio, it should have been consulted before making any changes.

“We are the Azimio. The majority, the strongest party in Azimio, was ourselves as ODM. There is nobody who can make a decision in Azimio without concurrence of ODM. And you cannot purport to appoint a new leader of Azimio excluding and bypassing this party called ODM. If ODM has not agreed, then there is nothing like a resolution of Azimio,” he said.

Azimio was formed in 2022 as a pre-election coalition including ODM, Wiper, PAA, NARC-Kenya, Jubilee, and others. After Raila Odinga’s alliance with President William Ruto, ODM focused more on supporting a broad-based government than the coalition itself. Last week, former President Uhuru Kenyatta held a meeting that appointed Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka as Azimio’s new head, replacing the late Raila Odinga.

Dr Oginga’s remarks echo President Ruto, who over the weekend said “Azimio without ODM is dead.”

While exiting Azimio, ODM is not closing doors to political alliances. Dr Oginga said the party will first test the waters with UDA, and if negotiations fail, will explore other partners — and as a last resort, contest elections independently.

“As a party, we are not in a hurry to say one term, two terms. We are strengthening our party to prepare ourselves. First, we start with our current partners. If we don’t agree, we move on to discuss with other formations, or we go alone,” he said.
Dr Oginga also tackled the thorny issue of internal party discipline, with all eyes and the outcome of NEC. There were speculations that NEC would resolve to kick out the party’s Secretary General Edwin Sifuna.

“This party is like a club. When you join a club, you have to obey the rules of that club…I am not very happy that when we pass resolutions here, some of the members of this committee, some of the members of the Central Committee, who are policy makers of this party, go out to say exactly the contrary of what we have agreed in committees… If it is your democratic right, then there is chaos in the country. Democracy does not mean chaos. Democracy must have some discipline,” he said.

That statement appeared to lay down the foundation for ejecting the Nairobi Senator, who last week, alongside Siaya Governor James Orengo and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino among others, held a series of rallies in Siaya and Busia dubbed ‘Linda Mwananchi Tour’.

Meanwhile, Dr Oginga and other pro-broadbased politicians have their Linda Ground Campaign.