ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna on Thursday, July 25 disclosed that he was not aware that President William Ruto will be nominating prominent ODM members to his Cabinet.
Sifuna mentioned that the ODM Central Committee had only met once after July 9, when Party Leader Raila Odinga expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue with President Ruto.
During that meeting, the Nairobi Senator says, there was no decision made for ODM to seek ministerial positions.
“ODM has not joined the government. As the Secretary General of ODM, I participate in all party organs and speak on behalf of all those entities,” he stated in an interview with Citizen TV. “There has been much speculation about yesterday’s events, but the reality is that none of the ODM organs I am part of decided to join the Ruto government.”
Sifuna said that he will be expecting the four Cabinet nominees to resign from their party positions before they are vetted by Parliament.
“I expect the resignation of ODM members who were nominated by President Ruto to join his Cabinet before they go for vetting. There is no way Raila would present only male nominees for the CS position; it was not his decision.”
President Ruto and Raila shared a stage at Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) on July 9, during the signing of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries (IEBC) Amendment Bill.
At that event, Raila indicated that the opposition was open to discussions with the government to address issues raised by youthful protestors.
“Since the KICC meeting, there seems to have been a deliberate attempt to misrepresent the party’s stance, particularly in the print media,” Sifuna attributed the confusion to the media’s portrayal of events leading to ODM’s perceived alignment with Ruto’s Cabinet.
Sifuna clarified that his last understanding of the dialogue was that Raila sought a national conversation, and he criticized the media for alleging that he failed to communicate clearly as the ODM Secretary General.
“I have communicated clearly as SG of ODM. After KICC, Raila convened a central committee meeting because that is his usual approach when we haven’t met before an event,” Sifuna explained, emphasizing his unawareness of other ODM leaders’ negotiations to join Ruto’s Cabinet.
John Mbadi (Chairman), Ali Hassan Joho (Deputy Party Leader), Wycliffe Oparanya (Deputy Party Leader), and Opiyo Wandayi (National Assembly Minority Leader and Director of Political Affairs) have all been nominated to Cabinet positions.
