They Sent Goons To Silence Sifuna.Does Somebody Want to Kill him?
They Sent Goons To Silence Sifuna. It Didn't Work.
ODM invited Edwin Sifuna to a meeting in Kilifi. What they didn't tell him was that goons were already waiting at the venue with instructions to separate him from his security first. He got wind of it, stayed in Nairobi, and they removed him as Secretary General in his absence anyway. And if you think that's wild, wait until you hear what happened to Millie Odhiambo when she showed up instead.
This party is falling apart in real time.
:Goons, Power Grabs and a Party Tearing Itself Apart: The Full Sifuna Story
ODM has always been loud. Dramatic. Full of people who love a microphone and can't stand sharing one. But what has been happening inside that party over the last few months is something else entirely. This isn't just politicians arguing. This is threats. Hired muscle. People being followed. A whole Secretary General who had to skip a meeting because he genuinely feared for his life.
Let's go back to the beginning.
After Raila Died, Everything Changed
When Raila Odinga died in October 2025, ODM lost the one person who could walk into a room and make everyone shut up and fall in line. Whatever you thought of his politics, the man held that party together through sheer force of personality.
The moment he was gone, the knives came out.
On one side you have Oburu Oginga, Raila's brother, who stepped in as party leader. Around him rallied people like Gladys Wanga, Simba Arati, Junet Mohamed and Nassir. This group became known as the Linda Ground faction. Their position? ODM should negotiate with Ruto, get a seat at the table, secure something for 2027.
On the other side, Edwin Sifuna. James Orengo. Babu Owino. These ones formed what they called Linda Mwananchi. Their position? ODM should not go anywhere near Ruto. That doing so would be a betrayal of everything the party stood for.
Two visions. One party. And absolutely zero interest in finding middle ground.
The Kilifi Trap
By January 2026, things had gotten bad enough that Oburu called a Central Management Committee meeting in Vipingo, Kilifi County. He said it was for consultation. For unity. For a candid conversation about the future of the party.
Sifuna didn't show up.
At the time, people assumed he had just missed his flight. Or was boycotting. Or was being difficult as usual. The photos from the meeting didn't show him anywhere. They went ahead, held the meeting, and voted to remove him as Secretary General while he sat in Nairobi.
But here is what we found out later.
Sifuna had received information from trusted sources that goons had been deployed to that venue specifically for him. The plan, according to what he was told, was simple and chilling: let him enter the building, keep his security outside, and then deal with him once he was alone inside.
He chose to stay home.
You can call that cowardice if you want. I call it reading the room correctly.
Millie Odhiambo Got Hit Instead
Now here is the part that most people glossed over.
Millie Odhiambo had been trying to play peacemaker through all of this. She sat with Sifuna multiple times alongside Otiende Amollo, trying to get both sides to talk. She also spoke to the Linda Ground faction. She genuinely believed a meeting before the Kilifi Central Committee session could bring things down a notch.
What happened instead was that when the goons arrived and realised Sifuna wasn't there, they turned on Millie.
She said this herself, publicly. Senior ODM leaders organised those goons. When their actual target didn't show up, Millie, who had come to make peace, became the one who faced their anger.
Because she was trying to bring the two sides together. And apparently, that was not welcome.
"I Cannot Work Under Mediocrity"
While all this was happening, Sifuna was not sitting quietly. Far from it.
At a rally in Tononoka, Mombasa, he said something that went everywhere immediately. He said he had worked under Raila Odinga for over nine years and was not about to work under someone like Oburu. He used the word mediocrity. On a public stage. Into a microphone.
Oburu responded by saying Sifuna is not the Pope and can be removed like any other official.
Oburu also claimed, for good measure, that Raila himself had been fed up with Sifuna long before he died. That Sifuna had once organised goons to embarrass Raila at a rally in Kakamega.
So now both sides are accusing each other of using goons. Both sides are claiming the moral high ground. And Raila, who cannot speak for himself anymore, is being quoted by everyone to justify everything.
The Mombasa Retreat
This past weekend, ODM held a Parliamentary Group retreat at Whitesands Hotel in Mombasa. Ninety MPs. Thirteen governors. Cabinet Secretaries. The whole machinery.
The official agenda was unity and 2027 strategy. The unofficial agenda was trying to figure out what to do about the fact that the party is cracking down the middle.
Gladys Wanga stood up and said every voice must count. Simba Arati said unity is not optional. They even extended an olive branch to Sifuna and Orengo, asking them to come back.
Sifuna and Orengo were not there.
So Where Does This Leave ODM?
A Secretary General removed while he stayed home because he feared being attacked. A peacemaker who got roughed up by goons meant for someone else. A party leader calling press conferences to say his SG is not the Pope. A dead founder being quoted daily by people who disagreed with each other while he was alive.
This is ODM in 2026.
The party that once had the whole country singing Unbwogable is now holding retreats at beach hotels trying to convince its own members to stop fighting each other long enough to think about 2027.
Whether Sifuna comes back, fights from outside, or builds something new with Orengo and Babu, one thing is clear. ODM without Raila is a completely different animal. And nobody has figured out yet how to tame it.
What do you think? Can ODM hold itself together before 2027 or is this the beginning of the end? Talk to me in the comments.
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