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Former ODM leader, the late Raila Odinga and his brother, Senator Oburu Odinga [Courtesy]
Seven months after the death of its chief shepherd, Raila Odinga, the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) is riven by turmoil. Thus far, Senator Oburu Oginga has shown scant political capacity to preserve the party his brother bequeathed to him.
When did the deluge first hit the Orange Party? The August 2024 co-option of ODM’s chairman, Minority Leader and two deputy party leaders into the Cabinet of President William Ruto’s government following a handshake with Odinga lit the fuse now consuming the party. Critics decried it as a travesty of multiparty democracy given ODM’s standing as the principal opposition force in both the Senate and the National Assembly. Odinga’s gambit was widely viewed as a breach in the ramparts of oversight within Kenya’s bicameral Parliament.
Raila’s failure to name a successor left ODM dangerously exposed long before his death. The Scripture is clear: “May the Lord, the God who gives breath to all living things, appoint someone over this community to lead them, so the Lord’s people will not be like sheep without a shepherd” (Numbers 27:16-17). Leaders who refuse to pass the baton leave their people rudderless. Build systems that outlast you, or watch your legacy crumble irreparably.
