NICK JUMA: Firebrand Sifuna faces dilemma as political intrigues mount

Inside the office of Senator Edwin Sifuna, a huge portrait of ODM boss Raila Odinga hangs on the wall. Predictably, there is none of President William Ruto.

The portrait is placed in such a position that it seems to have a life of its own and a complete view of the entire room. If the ODM secretary general is consistent in saying his party boss is the only mentor and political leader he has ever had, it is obviously not an exaggeration.

Yet, as the country hurtles towards the 2027 elections, and political realignments take place, the dilemma facing the Nairobi Senator must be how to navigate his anti-Ruto politics while delicately maintaining his close association with the ODM boss, now Ruto’s partner in the broad-based government.

A vocal critics of the cooperation deal, does Sifuna openly defy his boss and risk the wrath of both Raila and much of ODM, or does he stay within the party mainstream and ultimately compromise his own political standing, depending on where ODM ultimately lands in 2027?

About three weeks ago, the ODM Central Management Committee called a housekeeping meeting in Karen. To many political watchers and the media, the meeting was meant to deal with the SG’s perceived rebellion. Nothing much came out of it.

The gang of ODM and regime-aligned politicians baying for Sifuna’s blood were disappointed. But they wouldn’t relent. Early this week, when President Ruto and the former PM summoned their MPs to a joint Parliamentary Group meeting, the brigade seeking Sifuna’s removal hoped he would skip the meeting and force Raila’s hand.

As fate would have it, however, the joint PG ended in disarray, after legislators took offence at attacks on their institutions, coming from both Ruto and Raila.

The burning Sifuna matter took a back seat. Nonetheless, it won’t be on the sidelines for long. You can tell from the way the ODM secretary general’s name trends so much on social media, sometimes over mundane issues, that a choreographed attempt is in place to find fault with him whenever possible.

The 43-year-old Nairobi senator’s straight-shooting manner and abrasive politics tend to rub many people the wrong way. Within his own ODM party, it is easy to see jealousy and fear over his meteoric rise, mostly among those with designs on the post-Raila political dispensation. In a nutshell, they would rather have the sharpest tool in the yard out of the way, so the lowly blunt objects get free reign in the transition.

One of the biggest frustrations that Sifuna’s adversaries must confront daily is that since he is relatively new to the national political scene, there is no baggage they can attach to his name.

In a nation where public servants have either dipped their fraudulent fingers into public coffers over the years, or got themselves entangled in one scandal or another, there is not much to use as leverage against the ODM secretary general and force him to toe a certain line.

The net effect is that the combined forces of regime operatives and intra-ODM networks working to discredit the senator resort to sending bloggers to pick on flimsy matters such as how he voted on one bill or another. Their desperation is always clear for all to see, and the more the attempts to discredit him are made, the more it becomes obvious there is really no dirt to hang around the neck of the youthful legislator.

It has been pointed out that many more elected leaders, on both sides of the political divide, have come out to oppose the Kenya Kwanza-ODM cooperation, and indeed taken positions on key issues not in tandem with their sponsoring parties. Take Senate Chief Whip, Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, as an example.

The obsession with Sifuna points to something else: the fear that a youthful firebrand carries the political potency to rally the younger generation of voters into taking a certain stand in the next election.

Therefore, the fact that Sifuna appeals to a large section of Kenyan youth, and defies tribe while he’s at it, makes old guard politicians rather nervous. There is yet no evidence that Raila minds the methods and manners of the Nairobi Senator.

In fact, one could even say that the way the former PM indulges Sifuna confirms what many believe: that he sees his younger self in his protégé. Besides that, when the ODM boss looks past the noisy band of tribal dimwits who pester him to get rid of his SG, I believe he can see the real ODM quality, for the sustenance of a principled party, in the younger man.

When discussions over the MOU between his party and the ruling Kenya Kwanza regime come up, it is obvious that Sifuna is probably the only one who has read it in full, because the rest of his party had adopted the “Baba akisema left” principle, where reading and scrutinising such important matters are alien, as long as the boss has smiled.

Subsequent to signing the document, Sifuna appointed himself the overseer of its implementation, and on more than one occasion, declared it dead, following constant violations of its principles by the government side.

It is, in fact as a result of his noise that an implementation committee was ultimately formed to review the partnership’s progress, as well as a high-level committee to work on compensation for victims of the 2024 and 2025 Gen Z protests. You would expect that ODM as a party, and its members, would proudly back their SG for these achievements. But we live in an era of twisted logic.

It is impossible to question Sifuna’s commitment to duty. Both at the party’s Chungwa House headquarters and at the Senate, he stands out as a thorough professional, a leader beholden to data and facts, as well as an informed individual who stands on the side of excellence.

The reforms he initiated at the party contributed greatly to its firm structure as an organisation with real presence and structures in the grassroots. Besides that, at the Senate, his Energy (Amendment) Bill and Sports (Amendment) Bill, contain revolutionary, pro-people proposals meant to address the welfare of the common man.

Additionally, Sifuna’s contributions in the House are top notch, despite being delivered with the bravado that evidently irks his adversaries. But the real problem is that it has been a long time since Kenya had a perceived far-left firebrand thriving amidst what can be said to be a far-right political rule.

In this scenario, many pundits can’t decide whether the Nairobi Senator should be classified as rude, forthright, loud or even a rebel without a cause. What is clear, however, is that the closer the elections draw, the faster water will find its level and politics will find its equilibrium.

I am persuaded that Raila, Sifuna and ODM are more powerful and more effective together. But those who want a weakened ODM, which they can use for their own benefit in political horse-trading, will keep trying to divide the three. It’s the predicament the Nairobi Senator will face in the coming 20 months.