Saboti MP Caleb Amisi has said that the Orange Democratic Movement is no longer working well.
The legislator called on the party leadership to address the issues urgently, calling on young people to respect the party leader Raila Odinga.
Amisi said Raila should be respected because of the space that he holds democratically, even if they don’t agree in terms of ideologies.
“As we speak, we are experiencing ‘Disco Matanga’ in ODM. Basically, it is dead we are now dancing, waiting for the burial day, that’s what is happening. Something must be done urgently,” Amisi said.
“Some of us respect former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, as much as we don’t agree, you will never hear me abusing him because he has a space in history, but young people do not understand that. They will abuse him on social media, some of us do not agree with him completely, but we have told him to his face what is wrong, you will never hear us abuse him.”
This is even as camps comprising key ODM figures from the Western and Nyanza regions are slowly taking shape as Raila’s party faces its biggest threat of a split in its 22 years of existence.
At the heart of the clash is Secretary General Edwin Sifuna's insistence that the party must not support President Ruto’s re-election in 2027.
The comments were interpreted as veering off the ODM script, especially after Raila indicated the possibility of rallying the party behind Ruto’s re-election.
What began as a divergent opinion on the political direction the party will take in 2027 has morphed into open political rivalry between the two blocs that are the pillars of the Orange party.
The simmering feud exploded into public view at the weekend as the camps held parallel meetings in Kisumu and Kakamega counties.
In Kakamega, MPs allied to Sifuna demanded at the county’s delegates meeting that the Nairobi senator, who had earlier in the week declared dead the political deal between President William Ruto and Raila, be backed.
On the same day, the ODM brigades from Nyanza were in Muhoroni constituency, firing salvos at Sifuna.
ODM national chairperson and Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga led the Nyanza team in rebuking Sifuna, telling him off over the Ruto-Raila MoU.
“Raila Odinga has never instructed us to leave the agreement. So, if you speak against the broad-based government, you’re not speaking on behalf of ODM,” Wanga said.
