Nairobi — Is the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party in government or not?
The question is buzzing in Kenya's political sphere after President William Ruto nominated four high-ranking ODM members to serve as Cabinet Secretaries on Wednesday.
President Ruto announced the nominations of ODM Chair John Mbadi, Deputy Chairs Wycliffe Oparanya and Hassan Joho, and National Assembly Minority Leader Opiyo Wandayi as Cabinet Secretaries for Treasury, Cooperatives, Mining, and Energy, respectively.
President Ruto unveiled the four who comprised the second batch of the Cabinet Secretaries nominees.
The nomination of Raila Odinga's four key allies has led many Kenyans, especially in the opposition, to view it as the end of the 19-year-old party.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna however, has clarified that the party has not joined the government.
"The party has not joined the government, that is an open lie," he said during Citizen Television Day Break Show on Thursday.
Sifuna underscored that the party has a well-organized structure for making decisions about joining the government, and no part of this structure has approved such a move.
"ODM is a movement of people, the over five million Kenyans who are registered members and there is a way in which organizations such as our party make a decision," he said.
Questions are swirling about how the four could accept the nomination without Raila's approval, fueling speculation that the party might be aligning with the government.
The Nairobi Senator clarified that the claims are far from the truth, even as he criticized the quartet for accepting the nominations after previously condemning President Ruto's administration.
"I had the President say that they are going to implement the bottom-up transformative agenda, I can assure you Mbadi for instance has no idea what that means because he is a member of ODM," he said.
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In his recent position on joining the government or engaging in dialogue with President Ruto, Raila issued demands for specific issues to be addressed first. He has yet to formally respond to the nominations.
Raila and the President, once allies who became bitter foes and now appear to be allies again, continue to face criticism. Raila is accused of betraying his supporters' trust, while the President is criticized for enabling anti-reforms.
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