ODM Is Being Sold;An Insider Reveals

ODM IS BEING SOLD: ORENGO'S EXPLOSIVE TV INTERVIEW AND THE BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF THE ORANGE PARTY

There are moments in Kenyan politics when someone decides to stop whispering and start shouting. Wednesday night, May 6, 2026, was one of those moments for Siaya Governor James Orengo.

Speaking in what has been described as an explosive TV interview, the Senior Counsel dismissed rumours of a split within ODM, suggesting instead a far more transactional reality, that the Orange is being traded for a few coins. His words were deliberate. His targets, unmistakable.

What Orengo Said And What It Means

The core of Orengo's allegations was simple but devastating: that ODM, Kenya's most storied opposition party, is no longer being run from within.

"President Ruto is the willing buyer; it is not a secret that is how ODM can hold its meetings in State House and President Ruto presides," he stated. He went even further, alleging that these meetings were not confined to official buildings. "Not just in State House, in his private residence in Kilgoris, and he is the one funding the party," he claimed.

He named names. He named places. And he named money.

"He is funding even this meeting they had in Mombasa. The air tickets, the allowances, and the hotels were paid by President Ruto," Orengo alleged.

On the question of his personal relationship with ODM leader Oburu Oginga, Orengo was quick to clarify that his stance is professional, not personal. "I don't have beef with Oburu Oginga; it is not a personal thing," he stated firmly. "What we are saying is that ODM must live true to its founding principles and it also must live by the Constitution."

But he made something else clear: the party, in its current form, had already broken those principles. He argued that according to party law, when a vacancy occurs at the top, one of the three deputy party leaders should have been installed as interim leader. The manner in which Oburu Oginga assumed the mantle, he argued, was itself a constitutional breach, and one enabled from outside the party.

The Context: How Did ODM Get Here?

To understand Orengo's fury, you have to understand the road ODM has travelled since October 2025 when Raila Odinga, the towering figure who held the party together through sheer force of personality, died.

For decades, ODM was Kenya's most formidable opposition machine, anchored by Raila's singular authority. Without its unifying figure, the party's internal contradictions, long managed through Odinga's authority, burst into the open.

Leadership fell to Oburu Oginga, Raila's elder brother. But the transition has been messy, contested and, according to Orengo's camp, engineered from outside the party.

ODM activities, particularly those branded Linda Ground, began receiving logistical and financial backing. Party events saw an increased presence of State-linked facilitation, while key leaders enjoyed enhanced security arrangements. In one striking instance, an ODM activist printed party T-shirts bearing not the party's traditional symbols but President Ruto's image, long before delegates approved any ODM-UDA coalition talks.

The picture Orengo paints is one of a slow-motion capture. Not a sudden raid but a patient, methodical purchase.

The State House Meeting Allegations

The most politically significant claim in Orengo's interview is about the State House meetings and the decisions allegedly made there, including how Oburu Oginga's emergence as party leader was shaped not internally but externally.

This was not entirely new territory. ODM deputy party leader Godfrey Osotsi had previously broken ranks to make similar allegations. Osotsi claimed that Oburu Oginga visited President Ruto at State House before Edwin Sifuna's removal. He urged ODM members to resist what he described as external interference. "I want to call upon the membership of this party to stand firm and resist the efforts by Ruto to take over this party," Osotsi said.

Orengo has echoed and amplified those claims, now stating them openly on national television with the full weight of his legal and political reputation behind them.

Drawing from his past encounters with the President, Orengo said he had previously cautioned Ruto against undermining political parties. "My first encounter with President Ruto, when he was elected as president, was in a village in Ugenya. I told him, and if you watch the speeches I've made where Ruto is, I have implored him not to kill political parties, because I could see this coming," he said.

He saw it coming. Now he says it has arrived.

The Orengo-Oburu Feud: Older Than ODM Itself

What makes this political drama richer and more complicated is that the Orengo-Oburu rivalry did not begin with Raila's death. Their frosty relations have historical roots stretching back to the 1994 Ford Kenya succession battle, and the elections of 1997 and 2002.

Orengo has claimed he is the acting ODM party leader, accusing Oburu of failing to unite the party following Raila's death. "Orengo is the people's party leader to ensure the legacy and achievements of Raila Odinga are safeguarded. ODM is being sold, and I have to stand firm to ensure the party is not sold," he said.

Oburu has not been silent. He fired back, asking: "The work of a governor is to bring development and build roads. What development is he fighting for while agitating on the roads?"

Political analysts have not stayed on the sidelines either. Professor Lumala Masibo posed a pointed question: "Who was Oburu before Raila died? He was just a senator. Who appointed him acting party leader when he was not even one of the deputy party leaders?"

Two Movements, One Party on Paper

Inside ODM, two parallel universes now operate under the same brand.

One camp, led by Oburu Oginga, has been holding Linda Ground rallies aimed at consolidating support ahead of the 2027 General Election. Another faction, associated with Edwin Sifuna, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino and Siaya Governor James Orengo, has organised parallel Linda Mwananchi rallies, presenting themselves as defenders of the party's original ideals.

In tandem with his claim to leadership, Orengo announced the formation of the Linda Mwananchi movement, which he described as designed to act as a pressure group within the party to ensure it returns to its founding principles.

The symbolism of the JKL show in February captured the moment perfectly. Jeff Koinange picked up a plate carrying a small knife and an orange, sliced it into halves and asked two ODM lawmakers from rival factions to take one each, telling them: "This is the only way we can describe this party. Gentlemen, grab a half." One senator termed the act sacrilegious. The other described it as painful.

It was theatre. But it was also truth.

The Deeper Question: Can ODM Survive This?

Orengo's May 6 interview is not simply about internal party drama. It raises a question that goes beyond ODM and touches the very architecture of Kenyan democracy: what happens when the opposition is absorbed?

For decades, ODM was Kenya's most formidable opposition machine. Now the party finds itself confronting an uncomfortable question, whether it walked willingly into a political trap set by its longtime rival.

Orengo has been explicit. "Raila Amolo Odinga built a national party called ODM, but some of our colleagues, many from Nyanza, have sold that party," he declared.

And on the question of money, he called on ODM leaders who received funds from President Ruto to return them. "Kuna viongozi walipewa pesa na Ruto, mimi nataka kuambia warudishe hizo pesa kwa Ruto, sisi hatutaki pesa za Ruto," he said publicly.

Whether those leaders will listen is another matter entirely.

What Comes Next

Orengo is 76. He has survived Kenyatta, Moi, Kibaki, Uhuru and now finds himself in the most complex battle of his political life, not against a government, but against people who once stood beside him.

His own journey has had its contradictions. He once declared that development projects do not require kneeling. Then he led a delegation to State House and came back with billions for Siaya. He has criticised the broad-based government and yet navigated around it when Siaya needed infrastructure money. These tensions have followed him.

But on the central question of whether ODM is being directed from State House, his position has not moved an inch.

"The orange is not split; people are trying to sell the orange for a price, for a few coins, and we are not going to allow that," he declared on Wednesday night.

The battle for the soul of ODM is no longer whispered in corridors. It is being fought in public, on television, at rallies and in courtrooms. And James Orengo has made clear he intends to be the last one standing.

Whether he is right or simply fighting his own succession war, the Kenyan public deserves to watch closely. Because when the opposition dies, everyone, not just its members, loses something important.

https://www.maatribune.co.ke/2026/05/odm-is-being-soldan-insider-reveals.html