Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya warned that a faction within the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) linked to the “Linda Mwananchi” movement could weaken the opposition by forming a new political party. He noted that such a split might unintentionally assist President William Ruto’s re-election efforts.
During Citizen TV’s JKLive Show on Wednesday, Natembeya characterized the friction as an internal ODM dispute. He mentioned that Azimio-allied leaders are currently watching the situation unfold from the sidelines.
The governor distanced himself from both groups, observing that the rift has divided ODM into two clear camps: those supporting the broad-based government and those opposing it.
“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. For us in Azimio, we are basically bystanders viewing how events are unfolding, and we hope it ends well,” he said.
“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.”
According to Natembeya, ODM members who oppose the current arrangement are largely repeating concerns raised when former party leader Raila Odinga first joined the broad-based government.
In these emerging factions, Sifuna aligns with the Linda Mwananchi wing. Meanwhile, Oburu leads the rival Linda Ground group, which supports cooperating with the Kenya Kwanza administration.
However, the outspoken governor warned that turning the Linda Mwananchi movement into a formal political party would split the opposition vote.
“The arrangement where Raila went to the government, some of us did not support it, and the people who are opposing it from within are basically echoing the view we had when Raila Odinga joined William Ruto,” he said.
“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. Now, if they branched off and formed another wing of opposition, they are going to reduce our votes and inevitably help Ruto get another term. For me, I would greatly discourage that type of direction,” he said.
