ADVERT 
When a senior politician hurriedly records a public video to deny rumours that he has been beaten up, the bigger story is rarely the rumour itself. The real story is the fear, anxiety and political insecurity that made such a response appear necessary in the first place.
That is the uncomfortable reality now confronting Samuel Onunga Atandi and ODM’s increasingly embattled Linda Ground establishment.
Only a few weeks ago, Atandi confidently appeared on national television to declare that the rival Linda Mwananchi faction could neither hold nor sustain a political rally in Kisumu because “the people” would reject them outright. The statement was meant to project authority and grassroots dominance. Instead, events moved in the opposite direction.
The rally took place.
Not only did it proceed peacefully, but by many accounts it drew substantial public support, exposing a growing gap between ODM’s official political rhetoric and the mood simmering beneath the surface in Nyanza.
Now comes the political irony.
Rumours began circulating that Atandi himself had been roughed up in Kisumu by the same wananchi he had earlier portrayed as firmly aligned behind the Linda Ground brigade. Whether the allegations are true or false is almost beside the point. In politics, perception often travels faster than facts. What matters is that the MP considered the claims serious enough to warrant an emergency-style video rebuttal.
More puzzling still was the inclusion of ODM Chairperson Gladys Wanga in the public relations exercise.
Why would a major political party deploy its top leadership to counter what should ordinarily have been dismissed as idle social media gossip?
That single decision unintentionally revealed the extent to which ODM’s leadership has become increasingly sensitive to online narratives, digital ridicule and grassroots murmurs. A confident political machine ignores rumours. An insecure one rushes to extinguish them before sunrise.
The episode also raises troubling questions about the quality of political communication emerging from the Linda Ground camp. Has ODM’s once-formidable propaganda machinery deteriorated into reactive TikTok firefighting? Have senior leaders become so politically jittery that every online accusation now demands a full-scale rebuttal?
For a party that historically prided itself on ideological confidence and grassroots command, the optics are devastating.
Even more revealing was the recent Linda Ground mobilisation in Siaya, which unintentionally exposed the widening cracks within ODM’s regional power structure. The meeting conspicuously lacked several influential local political heavyweights whose absence spoke louder than any speech delivered at the event.
Missing were Otiende Amollo, James Orengo, Moses Omondi, Elisha Odhiambo, David Ochieng and Siaya Deputy Governor William Oduol among others.
The symbolism was impossible to ignore.
A meeting supposedly meant to demonstrate local political dominance ended up relying heavily on leaders imported from outside Siaya, including Gladys Wanga and Ochillo Ayacko. In the end, only Atandi and Senator Oburu Odinga stood out prominently as Siaya’s key parliamentary faces in attendance.
That is not a picture of overwhelming unity. It is a picture of a movement struggling to project internal cohesion while managing silent rebellion beneath the surface.
ODM’s greatest political strength for decades has been its ability to appear invincible in its traditional strongholds. But political invincibility begins to fade the moment leaders start nervously responding to rumours, staging reassurance videos and overcompensating to prove control.
The ground in Nyanza is no longer as politically predictable as it once was.
And increasingly, ODM’s own reactions are betraying that reality.
