Co-operatives Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya (left) and his Treasury counterpart John Mbadi follow proceedings during ODM party officials’ retreat at Sarova Whitesands Beach Resort in Mombasa May 4, 2026.
Cooperatives Cabinet Secretary Wycliffe Oparanya has revealed how his attempt to reconcile the rival Linda Mwananchi and Linda Ground factions was frustrated by hardliners in the party.
Mr Oparanya said it is only by fronting a united front that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) would negotiate as equal partners with President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
The CS made the disclosure on a day ODM party leader Oburu Oginga convened a crisis meeting to end political tension among ODM politicians drawn from Kakamega County.
Mr Oparanya and Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa have been involved in a long-drawn political fight that had become a threat to ODM’s influence in the region going into the 2027 polls.
In the meeting, Dr Oginga sought to end the animosity by bringing the leaders together and rallying them to work as a team ahead of the 2027 contest.
“Joined by my deputy party leader, Governor Simba Arati and the Cabinet Secretary for Cooperatives, Wycliffe Oparanya… we hosted a high-level stakeholders meeting with Western leaders. Our discussions focused on strategic revitalisation and strengthening our party’s regional presence,” he said in an interview with Daily Nation.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna address a Linda Mwananchi politcal rally at Mazembe Grounds in Nakuru City on April 19, 2026.
The meeting was attended by National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohammed, MPs Benard Shinali (Ikolomani), Elsie Muhanda (Woman Rep), Nabii Nabwera (Lugari), Johnson Naicca (Mumias West), Emmanuel Wangwe (Navakholo) and Christopher Aseka (Khwisero).
Mr Oparanya said that if given a chance, he would still push for the unity of ODM by reconciling the rival factions.
“We are trying to bring party harmony, especially in Western, because there has been a big division. Western has become very delicate. It should be clear that one is talking about exit, but a strong party so that we can negotiate well with UDA,” said the former Kakamega Governor.
He said that Western has traditionally backed ODM and the former Prime Minister Raila Odinga for successive elections, making it one of the party’s major strongholds.
“If we have to retain our numbers, we have to work as a team. Raila was a strong character, and you don’t expect us to get someone of his stature to lead us, but we have to soldier on.”
While citing hardliners within the party, Mr Oparanya said he would still pursue efforts to bring back the Linda Mwananchi camp led by Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna.
“If given a chance, I would definitely do that (reconcile rival factions). Others within the party feel that the splinter group has reached an extreme level for any reconciliation,” he said.
Mr Oparanya recently warned that the removal of Mr Sifuna and Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi from the party leadership is likely to complicate President Ruto’s re-election campaign in the region.
“We are making a mistake as ODM leaders. This thing of removing people from the party makes our work very difficult. It is making our work of campaigning for the President very difficult,” Mr Oparanya said, adding that, “If you go to the ground, you are confronted with questions on why so-and-so has been removed from the party. I am asked difficult questions on the ground, questions for which I have no answers because I am not in the leadership of ODM.”
ODM vice chairperson and Rarieda MP Otiende Amollo and his Suba North counterpart Millie Odhiambo have recently described the decision to kick out Mr Sifuna as a major political blunder.
ODM Leader Oburu Oginga at Linda Ground in Siaya County.
The two leaders have also recounted how they unsuccessfully tried to forestall the fallout by warning Dr Oginga about the decision.
“Before the NEC meeting that removed Sifuna, I met Dr Oburu. I warned him against such a decision. I told him there would be nothing to gain; instead, it would only destroy the party,” said Dr Amollo.
MP Millie also narrated how she tried more than once to reconcile the rival camps. “I spoke to other senior party members in Linda Ground…but goons turned their anger on me…they and their masters were not happy that I was attempting to bring our teams together.”
During the recent Mombasa retreat, Treasury CS John Mbadi came out as one of the opponents of the efforts to re-unite the camps.
Mr Mbadi dismissed the suggestion for reconciliation, stating that the real problem facing the party is its members who remain undecided.
“We have many here who are unsure whether to support Linda Mwananchi or remain here and support mainstream ODM. There has never been a time when you see people who have made a decision to divide the party and stay in it,” the CS said.
He cited historical examples of politicians who had left parties from the days of FORD to pursue their own political paths, arguing that the party should not be overly concerned with bringing back the faction associated with Mr Sifuna.
“There is no single time when you find people who have made a resolve to divide a party, remaining in that party. It is impossible. When people decided to divide Ford, attempts were made, and elders met, but they still went. You cannot bring them back,” said the former ODM national chairman.
The Linda Mwananchi faction recently issued a raft of strict conditions for any reunion with the rival Linda Ground team. The team ruled out re-joining forces with Dr Oginga’s faction, unless the outfit reverses all its major decisions made after the death of Mr Odinga in October 2025.
Following Mr Odinga’s death, ODM, through its various organs, made major decisions, including the appointment of Dr Oginga to succeed Mr Odinga as party leader.
The outfit also fired co-deputy party leader Mr Osotsi during its Special Delegates Convention (SDC) held on March 27, and is also in the process of kicking out Mr Sifuna as the party’s Secretary General.
The outfit, through its National Executive Council (NEC), also endorsed pre-coalition agreement talks with the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA). The party tasked Dr Oginga to lead the talks.
In its list of irreducible minimums, the faction said they can only reconcile if the camp calls for an ordinary National Delegates Convention (NDC) for party members to elect new officials in a competitive process.
“If our colleagues have realised they made mistakes, and they want us to reconcile, we will have to give them pre-conditions because we no longer trust them,” said Mr Osotsi.
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