ODM responds after South Africa’s Malema says 'won't allow' Raila to continue protests

The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party has responded to South African opposition leader Julius Malema, who on Saturday told off his Kenyan counterpart Raila Odinga for "disrupting" the country through the recent anti-government protests.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader sensationally told off Odinga, saying President William Ruto was democratically elected in last year’s polls and that he "will not allow" the former prime minister to disrupt Kenya.

“We want to make a call to Kenya, especially to comrade Raila Odinga; stop doing what you are doing. Do not disrupt Kenya, we need peace in Kenya,” Malema said.

“The president, William Ruto was democratically elected and I will not allow you to use the people to disrupt the peace in Kenya.”

Through a statement Sunday, ODM secretary-general Edwin Sifuna said Malema is ignorant of Kenya's political scene. He called him a victim of the Kenya Kwanza administration’s propaganda.

“It is clear that Comrade Malema, watching Kenya from a distance, is not familiar with the delicate socio-political fault lines in our nation, and makes the faulty assumption that his approach in [sic] fighting injustices in South Africa can be replicated here,” said Sifuna.

“If he was seized of the facts, he would know that Kenya is largely a dictatorship falsely basking in the sun of democracy, in which nearly all elections since 2007 have been fraudulent, and where the wrong president has been sworn in each time.”

Drawing parallels between EFF and ODM’s work, Sifuna said the two parties are fighting against government oppression.

“If Comrade Malema had bothered to look beyond the Kenya Kwanza regime propaganda, he would know that the recent protests in Kenya were against obscenely high taxes, rising cost of living and government refusal to listen to the people. I have no doubt that if Malema was Kenyan, his red army would have joined us in their numbers on the streets, similar to what they recently did in South Africa," Sifuna said.

"Comrade Malema enjoys the enviable luxury of living in a country where all post-apartheid presidents have come from the ranks of liberators. Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramphosa are all inspirational figures in the freedom movement on our continent. I am certain that if Comrade Malema lived in a nation perennially led by collaborators and former home guards, thieves and liars, who not only steal elections at will but routinely send police to shoot unarmed civilians in a re-enaction of South Africa's own Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 or the Marikana Massacre of 2012, he would hold different views."

The ODM sec-gen invited Malema to visit Kenya and even offered to take him on a tour of the country for a first-hand experience of the challenges Kenyans are facing.

"I extend an invitation to comrade Malema to visit Kenya, so that I can personally take him on a tour of our country so that he understands that we fight for the same things he does,” said Sifuna.

“In fact, Kenya's own quest for a people-driven constitutional framework has always looked up to South Africa's strong party foundations and structures to dilute our oppressive winner-take-all presidential system. That is what Comrade Malema is doing in South Africa and that is what we are doing in Kenya."

Last August, Malema wrote a congratulatory message to President Ruto after being announced the winner of the contested election, telling Odinga to concede defeat and contain his supporters.

“The EFF calls on the rival, the contestants and in particular, Raila Odinga to accept the results of the elections and act with restraint with their supporters,” he said at the time.

The two leaders' factions have agreed to another round of bipartisan talks to address their differences, this time led by former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo. Previous talks in April and May broke down as both sides accused each other of sabotage.