Sifuna vows ODM unity after Raila’s burial, the Nairobi senator’s resolute pledge cutting through the haze of grief and speculation like a beacon for the Orange Democratic Movement’s fractured faithful.
Just hours after the sombre interment of party colossus Raila Odinga in Bondo’s red soils, Edwin Sifuna emerged from a veil of silence to rally the ranks, insisting that the Agago’s unyielding spirit demands cohesion over chaos in the face of whispers about leadership vacuums and rival ambitions.
“Baba built this house brick by tear-stained brick; we’ll not let it crumble on our watch,” Sifuna declared in a heartfelt X thread, his words a lifeline tossed to a base still reeling from the October 14 shockwave.
Sifuna, 42, and the ODM’s sharp-tongued secretary general, has been Raila’s right-hand man since the 2022 polls, a role he credits to the late icon’s “blind faith in underdogs”.
From Senate floor dust-ups with UDA hardliners to viral takedowns of Ruto’s tax hikes, he’s carved out a niche as the party’s millennial mouthpiece – eloquent, unapologetic, and quick with a quip that lands like a matatu horn in traffic.
Today’s missive, penned from the funeral’s afterglow, didn’t just mourn; it mapped a path. “ODM marches on – to 2027 and beyond, with Raila’s blueprint etched in our bones,” he wrote, name-dropping allies like Joho and Balala while subtly shading “vultures circling the carcass”.
It’s a masterstroke amid the mourning, quelling rumours of a post-Raila splinter where Luo elders eye Kalonzo dalliances and youth wings flirt with third-way fantasies.
The burial itself was a spectacle of solidarity and subtle schisms: Uhuru Kenyatta’s graveside oratory on “unfinished revolutions”, Ruto’s stiff CGH tribute drawing jeers, and Sifuna’s eulogy – a 10-minute mic drop blending Swahili proverbs with Gen Z slang – stealing the show.
“Raila didn’t just fight; he fathered our fire,” Sifuna choked out, tears carving paths through the dust as 50,000 souls chanted “Baba! Baba!” Back in Nairobi, his post-burial pivot has insiders buzzing.
“He’s positioning as heir apparent without saying it,” one ODM strategist confided off-record, pointing to Sifuna’s quiet huddles with Raila’s daughter Winnie and son Fidel.
Yet thorns lurk: Nandi Senator Cherargei, a Ruto acolyte, fired off a barb demanding Sifuna’s “immediate ouster” for “fomenting division”, tagging it to old Senate spats over housing levies. This vow lands at a pivot point for Kenyan opposition.
With Azimio’s tent sagging under economic gripes – inflation gnawing at 8%, youth joblessness at 35% – Sifuna’s unity call doubles as a 2027 audition. Polls from GeoPoll show ODM’s base intact at 22%, but loyalty wanes without Raila’s gravitational pull.
“We’ll honour him by holding the line: justice reforms, affordable housing, ending the hustle heist,” Sifuna elaborated in a follow-up Instagram Live, fielding questions from Kisumu to the diaspora.
Fans flooded in, saying, “You’re the spark we need, SG!” while critics sniped, “Talk is cheap; deliver devolution dividends first.” His nod to Raila’s pre-death whisper – “ODM hits the ballot hard in ’27” – fuels speculation of a Sifuna-led ticket, perhaps with a Kalenjin bridge-builder to counter Ruto’s Rift grip.
As dusk settles over the city that never sleeps, Sifuna’s stance feels like oxygen in a stuffy room. In a republic where power plays pulse like Nairobi’s veins, his pledge isn’t poetry; it’s politics – raw, resilient, ready for the ring.
With Maraga and Omtatah circling Ruto’s fresh bills, ODM’s cohesion could tip the scales. Will Sifuna forge the forge or fracture under the forge? For now, the party’s pulse beats steady, echoing one name: unity, or bust.