The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has lost direction and its leadership does not know what they want, Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi has said.
Osotsi said the party is no longer recognisable and has become a pale shadow of what it was meant to be after the leadership abandoned core ideals that it was formed to champion.
“I want to announce here as Vihiga senator that I was elected on the ODM ticket but we will not follow Oburu Odinga’s direction. We have decided that Edwin Sifuna is our leader in Linda Mwananchi and we shall join the political formation he comes with,” Osotsi said.
He was speaking during the burial service of Vincent Amakoye at Shamakhokho village in Hamisi constituency, Vihiga county.
Osotsi said Oburu and ODM chairperson Gladys Wanga joined the government.
“They then said they want power and now they want to remain Siaya senator and Homa Bay governor respectively. Oburu chased Sifuna and I away just to remain senator,” Osotsi said.
He said the orange party has become a lemon and is no longer sweet.
Osotsi said that Luhya leaders associated with the Linda Wananchi movement have resolved that a Luhya must be on the negotiating table for the country’s national leadership in 2027.
“If a Luhya is not on the table, we will better break that table. We are second in terms of population but we keep being told to wait,” he said.
He said that Sifuna has a national appeal as demonstrated by the huge public gatherings Linda Wananchi has been holding across the country.
He claimed that senior politicians from Western who are asking the Luhya community to support Ruto’s re-election are waging a campaign to belittle Sifuna on grounds that he lacks the wherewithal to sustain a presidential onslaught and that he is still too young.
Osotsi said that Ruto had let Kenyans down and should leave office to someone who can correct his mess and listen to Kenyans.
He accused the Kenya Kwanza administration of perpetuating discrimination in development of the country, saying that only Sh12 billion out of the Sh700 billion in development budget in the 2026-27 financial year budget has been allocated to the four Western counties.
He said that the government was allocating negligible funds to projects in Western, so it can keep using them as campaign tools and abandon them after elections.
