In a blistering takedown that’s exposed raw nerves within Kenya’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), Alego Usonga MP Samuel Atandi has slammed Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, declaring the party ODM unready for the 2027 run and urging any ambitious pretenders to shop elsewhere for a presidential ticket.
The weekend broadside, delivered at a fiery Nyanza caucus in Kisumu, comes as Raila Odinga’s shadow looms large over a party grappling with his pivot toward the African Union throne, leaving foot soldiers scrambling for direction amid whispers of a Ruto detente.
Atandi didn’t hold back: “There is nobody in ODM who can run for presidency now because Raila Odinga did not prepare you to run for that seat. ODM is not ready to field a candidate in 2027. If you think you are man enough to face William Ruto, come out, and if you want to run for presidency, you cannot use ODM; look for another party.
“The clash, captured in viral clips, shows deepening fissures in ODM’s ranks just months after Raila’s March handshake with President Ruto thawed old election animosities. Atandi, a long-time Luo loyalist with a knack for unvarnished truths, zeroed in on Sifuna, the sharp-tongued Secretary General whose barbs at the Kenya Kwanza regime have kept Azimio’s embers glowing.
“Edwin’s got the mic, but no map,” Atandi quipped to cheers from elders in Kisii, accusing the young Turk of grandstanding without groundwork. Sifuna, 41 and Nairobi’s vocal conscience, has floated trial balloons on X about ODM’s post-Raila era, but Atandi’s retort paints him as a lone ranger unfit for the party’s flagship race.
The dispute isn’t idle beef; it’s a symptom of ODM’s existential pivot. With Raila, 80, eyeing the AU Commission chair in February 2026, his endorsement of Ruto’s administration, via cabinet nods for ODM bigwigs like Hassan Joho, has split the base.
Nyanza delegates nodded to backing Ruto’s re-election, citing “pragmatic gains” like the stalled Finance Bill rollback and youth job pacts. Yet urban hawks like Sifuna decry it as a sellout, tweeting Saturday: “ODM fights for the forgotten, not fat envelopes.”
Atandi’s camp counters with cold math: ODM’s 2022 haul of 4.4 million votes splintered without Raila at the helm, and no heir apparent, be it Joho, Opiyo Wandayi, or even Sifuna, polls above 15% against Ruto’s machine.
Reactions poured in like October downpours. Siaya Senator Oburu Odinga, Raila’s brother, urged unity in a Nation op-ed, warning, “Internal wars feed our foes.”
Youth wings in Embakasi fired back at Atandi on TikTok, dubbing him “Raila’s relic” in skits that blend Luo proverbs with diss tracks. Analysts at the Africa Institute for Policy see opportunity in the chaos: “This forces ODM to redefine beyond one man.”