ODM chief Raila Odinga is leading the party in a two-day retreat in the wake of emerging internal rebellion as well as a political assault by DP William Ruto.
Raila is chairing a joint National Executive Committee and Parliamentary Group meeting at the Flamingo Beach Resort in North Coast, Mombasa.
The meeting, which started yesterday, will run through today before MPs return to Nairobi for parliamentary sessions. The sessions will start tomorrow afternoon.
The crucial talks bring together all 11 ODM governors and their deputies, senators and MPs. It is expected to rally all party members behind the handshake deal, amid murmurs from some MPs that they were not properly briefed on the details of the pact.
Uncertainty over Raila’s 2022 game plan has also stoked confusion.
There has been anxiety within the party on the details of the deal signed between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila on March 9.
Recommendations will enable the party take a common position on the fight against graft, the raging 2022 political storm and its approach to government business in the House.
A statement from the party indicated Raila will speak to members about the Building Bridges initiative – the bedrock of his deal with Uhuru.
“He [Raila] will be seeking members’ support for the initiative, which is aimed at uniting the country and solving the problems facing Kenyans and the nation at large,” the statement signed by director of communications Phillip Etale says.
The decision to have the retreat, he said, was arrived at during a party meeting last month in Naivasha.
“This [retreat] is pursuant to a resolution of the NEC at the Lake Elementaita Lodge on May 8 this year, where it was agreed that a joint meeting of the two organs of the party be held as soon as possible to allow Raila talk to them about the Building Bridges initiative and his meeting with Uhuru,” Etale said.
ODM has put on a brave face in the wake of changing political dynamics at the Coast, where Ruto has won the hearts of some of Raila’s loyal MPs. Last week Raila told members they are free to ‘manoeuvre’ without fear of being gagged.
He told MPs who have shifted loyalty that they should be ready to toe the party line in 2022. “ODM is therefore not on the campaign trail for 2022,” he said in a statement signed by his spokesman Dennis Onyango.