Siaya Governor James Orengo has delivered a stinging rebuke to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) leadership, announcing that the Linda Mwananchi faction will completely boycott the party’s Special Delegates Convention scheduled for March 27 in Nairobi.
Labeling the gathering an “illegal National Delegates Conference (NDC),” Orengo declared the meeting procedurally invalid and unfit for attendance.
“We can’t be part of it because it is an illegal NDC. It has not been properly convened, so we will not be able to attend it,” he told NTV in a hard-hitting interview.
Orengo zeroed in on what he called a fatal flaw: the convention notice was issued by Deputy Secretary General Catherine Omanyo rather than the Secretary General, a step he insists is constitutionally mandatory.
“The special NDC has to be convened by the Chairperson of the party following a resolution of the National Executive Council, or a requisition by delegates,” he explained. “But having been summoned, the National Delegates Convention must be given notice by the Secretary General. That is mandatory.”
He went further, accusing the rival camp of playing “games” with Omanyo’s role—presenting her sometimes as Deputy Secretary General and other times as Acting Secretary General—and using the event to illegally legitimize unelected officials.
“They want to illegally endorse certain officials who have never been elected by the National Delegates Convention,” Orengo charged. “They want, by acclamation, for those people to be pronounced as national officials.”
The boycott highlights the explosive divide tearing ODM apart. The Linda Ground faction, closely associated with party leader Dr. Oburu Oginga, is reportedly open to cooperating with President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance ahead of the 2027 General Election.
In sharp contrast, the Linda Mwananchi group—led by figures including Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, and Orengo himself—insists ODM must remain a fierce opposition force with no compromise or rapprochement with the ruling coalition.
Tensions boiled over after the controversial removal of Sifuna as Secretary General. Orengo revealed the decision has been challenged in court and legally stayed.
“As we speak, Edwin Sifuna is still the Secretary General of ODM,” he asserted.
Despite the bitter feud, Orengo firmly ruled out any plan to abandon ODM and form a new party.
“We are not going to register another party. We are members of ODM, we will remain members of ODM, we will fight from within the party,” he declared.
With the March 27 convention fast approaching, the standoff has placed ODM at a critical crossroads. The outcome could either fracture the party beyond repair or force a reckoning that redefines its direction and leadership heading into 2027.
