Natembeya warns against Sifuna's Linda Mwananchi movement forming a political party

Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya has warned that attempts by a faction within the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) associated with the Linda Mwananchi movement to form a political party could weaken the opposition and inadvertently aid President William Ruto’s re-election bid.

Speaking on the unfolding divisions within ODM during Citizen TV's JKLive Show on Wednesday, Natembeya described the dispute as an internal matter within the party, noting that leaders allied to Azimio are closely monitoring how the situation develops.

The governor who distanced himself from either faction noted that the current divisions appear to have split ODM into two camps — one backing the broad-based government arrangement with President Ruto and another opposing it.

“On the story about Linda Mwananchi, I have never been in any of those events. This is basically an internal ODM issue and how they are relating with the Government. For us in Azimio, we are basically bystanders viewing how events are unfolding and we hope it ends well,” he said.

“It looks like there are two sides of ODM, one is supporting the current broad-based government led by the interim party leader Oburu Oginga and the other faction led by Edwin Sifuna and James Orengo, who are not for the broad-based arrangement.”

According to Natembeya, those within ODM opposing the arrangement are largely echoing concerns that were raised when former party leader Raila Odinga joined the broad-based government.

Within the emerging factions, Sifuna is associated with the Linda Mwananchi wing while Oburu leads the rival Linda Ground group that supports cooperation with the Kenya Kwanza administration.

However, the outspoken governor cautioned that transforming the Linda Mwananchi movement into a political party would fracture the opposition vote.

“The arrangement where Raila went to the government, some of us did not support it and the people who are opposing it from within, are basically echoing the view we had when Raila Odinga joined William Ruto,” he said.

“My personal view is that it will be a disaster, because their views are basically the views of the Opposition and as the Opposition, we want to be united. Now, if they branched off and formed another wing of opposition, they are going to reduce our votes and inevitably help Ruto get another term. For me, I would greatly discourage that type of direction,” he said.

The remarks come amid escalating tensions within ODM over the implementation of the 10-point agenda agreed between the party and the Kenya Kwanza administration.

On Wednesday, Sifuna dismissed a report on the agenda’s progress, describing a briefing event at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) as a “charade” and insisting the agreement had not been implemented as promised.

Sifuna argued that the oversight committee failed to release its final report by the March 7 deadline and vowed that his faction would present what he termed a “true report” outlining failures in implementing the agenda.