Winnie’s last laugh over broad-based coalition as ODM faces a further split

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In her first speech at the ODM celebration in Mombasa and a TV interview, the late Raila Amolo Odinga’s daughter, Winnie Odinga, warned of the complexity of the broad-based coalition arrangement and the need for fresh blood to handle it.

Winnie warned that the arrangement that brought together her father and President William Ruto was so delicate and complex that it required people who understood it more deeply and better.

She went further to warn about the opportunists and betrayers in the party whose main agenda was to destroy the creed of the party.

“They have initiated talks without following procedure. They lack goodwill towards party members and have failed to listen to dissenting voices. The custodian of our constitution is the Secretary General, but people are being told to leave. Some are being de-whipped from their roles. That is not ODM,” she added.

During the ODM celebrations held last November in Mombasa, Winnie called for the National Delegates Conference (NDC) to choose a new team to manage the broad-based arrangement with President William Ruto.

**“There is something I wanted to tell you. When it came to the matter of the broad-based government, the people of ODM entrusted one person with the management of that relationship. That person was Baba Raila Amolo Odinga.

That relationship is complicated, and therefore we are looking and wondering: those who are taking it upon themselves to manage it now, are they capable of managing that relationship?

I don’t think that is the question for me to answer. That is the question for the people of ODM to answer. That is why the party leader is requesting that we go back to the people and have an NDC to see who the people want to pick to manage that same relationship,”** she said.

Last year, in an explosive interview with Citizen TV, Winnie Odinga let the cat out of the bag as she strongly lamented what she termed the desecration of the ODM creed.

Winnie first raised the red flag when she stated that ODM was not formed through the comfort of pillow and bedroom talks, but on the streets, fighting for social justice, which Raila stood for.

“I raised the statement out of concern that certain people and certain quarters are trying to achieve something that does not necessarily stand for the creed of the ODM party and perhaps want to take advantage of the situation for their own gain,” she said.

Winnie went on to claim that the very vein of the party — the constitution — was being violated and ignored, subsequently undermining its existence.

“The ODM constitution is being violated. People are misrepresenting themselves and moving in a manner that is not respectful to the party creed. They have not acted in a manner that respects the former party leader’s creed,” she said.

Former ODM Deputy Party Leader Wycliffe Oparanya lamented what he termed an insatiable love of money, which was destroying the party and leading to decisions that went against its values.

“When I see what is currently happening in the ODM party, and I was very close to the late Raila Amolo Odinga,” he said.

**“I am shocked. Money has destroyed leaders. They say one thing in one place and say the opposite elsewhere because of money. Their minds are confused.

They speak because of money. This was not the case during Raila’s time. Raila was a man of principle,”** he said after a parallel ODM rally in Kakamega last year.

Winnie became a victim of attacks led by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi, who asked where Raila was and said that not only one woman could give birth to leaders.

Her attempts to become the deputy party leader were nipped in the bud, and she has been kept at arm’s length in the management of the party.

ODM is staring at another split over the coalition arrangement with UDA and President Ruto, with one faction demanding a written agreement while the other is opposed to it and prefers trust and unconditional support.

The wing supporting a written agreement includes party National Chairperson Gladys Wanga, Director of Elections Junet Mohammed, and MPs Opondo Kaluma and Ruth Odinga.

The other wing includes Cabinet Secretaries Mbadi, Opiyo Wandayi and Hassan Joho, as well as Nyando MP Jared Okello, among others.

**“No coalition without a binding agreement. I reject, in the strongest terms, any attempt to present ODM as a Luo party, and therefore to suggest that the Luo are the ones party to such an agreement.

The point, therefore, is that ODM would not, and cannot, enter any coalition agreement that is not a binding legal agreement, given what we have seen and stated.

The party retains its identity and uniqueness, as stated and written in the various documents published by Baba. Anything short of that would be unacceptable to the great masses of the party.”**

Wanga and deputy party leader Simba Arati have emerged among the prominent advocates of a negotiated arrangement that reflects the party’s political strength.

On September 8, Wanga demanded that ODM receive half of the positions in the next government, including the Deputy President position, if Ruto wins a second term.

“If UDA gets 10 Cabinet Secretaries, then we also have to get the same number. If UDA gets the President, then we have to get the Deputy President. These are not negotiable,” Wanga said.

Okelo has argued that the President deserves support because of what his administration has done for the region.

“We will stand with you because of what you have done,” Okelo said while pledging unconditional support for Ruto.

Millie Odhiambo is now at peace after her warnings came to pass, and she feels vindicated.

“I have watched as every single issue I warned against has come to pass.

I meant well, but short-term benefits outweighed the wisdom I expressed.

I was instead called names and forcefully placed on the fence.

Right now, all I am doing confidently is to march forward to the 60s.

If you have not seen me recently in my 50s, see this photo, for soon, I will enter another decade.

That decade is marked by exceptional calmness and an enhanced ‘I don’t care’ attitude.

Until then, I have no opinion. I love all and hate none.

Go to the archives for my past opinions on trending political issues.

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