Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has trained his sights on ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, warning him to “respect the hierarchy” after a week of unusually public infighting within Kenya’s largest opposition party.
Speaking to Ramogi TV, Mbadi reminded Sifuna – and the party’s restless grassroots – that Raila Odinga, as Party Leader, remains the ultimate decision-maker. “Between the Party Leader and the Secretary General, whose decision is final?” he asked pointedly.
Mbadi further revealed that ODM politicians who accepted cabinet posts in President William Ruto’s government did so with Odinga’s blessing after lengthy consultations at State House. “I’m glad he clarified those are his personal opinions,” he added, brushing off Sifuna’s recent criticism of the cross-bench collaboration.
Hours earlier on Citizen TV’s ‘The Explainer’, Sifuna admitted ODM no longer speaks with one voice. “Right now, there is a lot of confusion… You could wake me up at night and I would answer any question because we never compromised on values,” the Nairobi Senator confessed, apologising to supporters for the mixed signals.
He singled out ODM leaders now serving as Cabinet Secretaries as a major source of disillusionment. “You see a member of ODM who used to hold a premier position, now serving as Cabinet Secretary, and it leaves our supporters very confused,” Sifuna said, lamenting that he can no longer articulate the party’s stance on core issues such as devolution and civil liberties.
The Nairobi Senator took a swipe at President Ruto, going as far as agreeing to support former CS Matiang’i if it means removing Ruto from office. The president has recently challenged the opposition to declare their agenda other than removing him from office, but Sifuna was quick to declare that removing President Ruto was the number one agenda and everything else secondary.
Edwin Sifuna: I want William Ruto to know that his removal from office is a national priority agenda. This is the worst possible government we would have envisaged. His government is totally opposed to what the Constitution stands for #CitizenExplainer @YvonneOkwara pic.twitter.com/HJfjfRHGtZ
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) July 22, 2025
Meanwhile, CS Mbadi insists the working arrangement with Kenya Kwanza will run until 2027, after which Odinga will chart ODM’s next course. Yet the tug-of-war between the party’s traditional opposition role and its current power-sharing experiment has left rank-and-file members unsure whose orders to follow.
