Senator Oburu Oginga during the ceremony to install Raila Odinga Junior as the head on of Raila Odinga'sd family at Opoda Farm in Bondo, Siaya County.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party’s top organ will on Monday October 27 hold a crucial meeting to revise its 20th anniversary celebrations programme and assess the party’s direction amid succession battles following Raila Odinga’s demise.
The programme had been affected following Mr Odinga’s death on October 15, the day Kajiado County was set to hold the forum, while Monday October 26, and Turkana had been earmarked for the events.
The chairperson of the ODM@20 celebrations Junet Mohamed and ODM co-deputy party leader Godfrey Osotsi confirmed the Central Management Committee meeting on Monday, the first one after Mr Odinga’s death.
It follows the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting that convened last week and endorsed Siaya senator Dr Oburu Oginga as the interim ODM party leader.
Azimio la Umoja Secretary General Junet Mohamed during a past press conference in Nairobi on August 8, 2022.
On Saturday, Mr Junet told the Sunday Nation that the celebrations will continue as planned, culminating into a three-day jamboree in Mombasa.
“The party will announce a new programme for the ODM@20 celebrations after Monday’s session. The events will go on,” he told Sunday Nation.
Mr Osotsi, the ODM co-deputy party leader said the Monday meeting would not have a heavy agenda as members are still in mourning Mr Odinga’s demise.
“We shall focus on the unity of the party and the upcoming by-elections. Serious decisions should come after the end of the 30-day mourning period,” he noted.
Mr Osotsi downplayed reports of internal tension surrounding Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna’s firm stance against the broad-based government arrangement and his possible ouster at the upcoming meeting
“Such serious decisions should not be rushed. People are still mourning. The focus now should be on uniting the party and remaining faithful to what Baba envisaged,” he said.
He defended Mr Sifuna, saying his remarks are consistent with the party’s agreed position.
Nairobi County Senator Edwin Sifuna during an interview in his office.
“Sifuna is not contradicting anything. We agreed we are in this broad-based government until 2027, and that’s what Raila always said,” Osotsi added.
He further urged the party to give prominence to ODM-UDA ten-point agenda, which he described as “the glue that binds the broad-based government.”
He called for attention to the plight of youths jailed or injured during past protests, saying their release should be a key priority in future engagements.
The 10-point agenda underpinning the cooperation between ODM and president William Ruto’s UDA inked on March 8, 2025 includes the full implementation of the NADCO report, inclusivity in appointments, protection of devolution, youth empowerment, and upholding constitutional freedoms such as the right to protest and press freedom.
ODM acting party leader Dr Oburu Oginga on Monday downplayed succession tensions in the party, saying “a leader will emerge naturally just as mushrooms grow overnight.”
He said questions about succession were misplaced, insisting that the party has many capable leaders ready to take charge when the time comes.
Senator Oburu Odinga during former Prime Minister Raila Odinga's funeral service at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University of Science and Technology in Bondo, Siaya County on October 19, 2025.
“Some people have been asking how I will steer this party at my age and how we shall handle succession. I told them that any of the existing ODM leaders has the capacity to lead,” he said.
He likened leadership emergence to the natural growth of mushrooms, saying, “Leaders emerge just like mushrooms grow. You just wake up one morning and find them grown. That’s how God works by elevating leaders.”
Dr Oburu noted that even Raila Odinga was never formally appointed by the Luo community but rose through his own political strength and vision.
“There was never a meeting to elect Raila as the Luo leader. He just emerged, and that was it,” he said.
He reaffirmed ODM’s commitment to the broad-based government arrangement, saying Odinga left the party within that framework.
“This government is the best for our people. We hope that come the next election, we shall fully sit in it. At the moment, we cannot claim much because we did not vote for it,” he said.
Succession scramble
On Friday October 24, 2025, Dr Oginga, the acting party leader hosted hundreds of Party delegates from Nyanza at his Bondo Home, in a move that is seen as his plan to take the mantle officially as the Party leader.
For many leaders, Dr Oginga projects an image of experience, wisdom and one that acted as Mr Odinga’s closest advisors and therefore can be trusted as the outfit’s torch bearer.
Immediately after he was given the party’s top position on an interim basis, already members of the party were proposing that he be confirmed, among them Energy CS Wandayi.
“ODM which is the party that I belong to, has made a very wise decision to appoint Dr Oburu as the Interim Party leader, in fact I will be proposing as a life member of ODM, that the party reconvenes a National Delegates Conference to elect him formally as our leader,” said Mr Wandayi.
He stated that the Nyanza Region will remain intact and get directions from Dr Oginga.
“We believe Oburu has the wherewithal, necessary experience and the composure to steer this party to the next level while working closely with our partners in the broad based government which is the United Democratic Alliance (UDA),” said the Energy CS.
And therefore, the convening of the Nyanza delegates at his home in Bondo is a plan towards Dr Oginga taking over the control of the party.
During the Friday meeting, he was unanimously endorsed as the Party leader by elected leaders and party members and supporters amid unity calls.
Being the first delegates meeting from the region since the demise of the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and the subsequent appointment of Dr Oburu to act as the party leader, the attendees expressed confidence in the veteran politician.
From left: Governors Gladys Wanga (Homa Bay), Johnson Sakaja (Nairobi) and James Orengo (Siaya) during the traditional ceremony to install Raila Odinga Junior as the family head at Opoda Farm in Bondo Siaya County on October 23, 2025.
The Siaya lawmaker, if approved by the National Governing Council (NGC), will take full authority of the party that will be celebrating two decades of its existence since its formation in 2005.
Each speaker who took to the stage called on all the ODM members to be united and stay on course as it was the days when Mr Odinga was still alive.
“I am very proud that you have given me the support, and I want to thank you immensely for what you have done for me. And I have also promised that I will not let them down, and we are there not to unite the community, but to unite Kenya, we want Kenya to be a united nation,” said Dr Oginga.
He hinted at reaching out to other parts of the country too, to strengthen the party.
“So we must say, we are going to be together, we are going to move together and as we move on other things will come in place.”
Orange party national chairperson Gladys Wanga called on the party members to respect the structures that are governing the outfit.
“If you are true to Raila Odinga and to the ideals of this party, you cannot go against its structures. ODM’s strength lies in its unity and its ability to speak with one voice. This is not the time for division. It is the time to rally behind our leadership and move forward together,” said the Homa Bay County boss.
As the scramble for succession in the party takes shape, several names, politicians and technocrats, stand out among those positioning themselves as the next face of Luo politics and ODM party.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.
In Nyanza, ODM National Chairperson Gladys Wanga, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, Cabinet Secretaries John Mbadi (Treasury) and Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), Odinga’s daughter Winnie and son Raila Jnr, who was on Thursday installed as the family leader, have all been mentioned.
Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, Principal Secretaries Raymond Omollo (Interior) and Ouma Oluga (Medical Services), former Chief Administrative Secretary David Osiany, Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo and Odinga’s younger sister — Kisumu Woman Representative Ruth Odinga are all touted.
However, in the larger ODM party leadership succession, the names of Mr Sifuna, the party’s secretary General, Cabinet secretaries Hassan Joho (Mining) and Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives), co-deputy party leaders Abdulswamad Nassir, Godfrey Osotsi and Simba Arati have emerged prominently.
Additional reporting by Rushdie Oudia
