The SDC held at the Jamhuri Sports Ground in Nairobi was a success for Oburu Odinga the interim leader of ODM since the death of his brother the party's founder Raila Odinga last October...

Those at the rival meeting – including Embakasi MP Babu Owino; Siaya Governor James Orengo one of Raila Odinga's closest allies; and Suba South MP Caroli Omondi Secretary-General of the Azimio la Umoja coalition that backed Raila's 2022 presidential bid – stated that they recognised Oburu as ‘an elder but not the leader'...

At a joint parliamentary meeting on 10 March three days after the anniversary of the 10-point Memorandum of Understanding signed by Ruto and the late Raila Odinga Ruto said that having stabilised the country after the 2024 protests the UDA-ODM government would shift from crisis management to ‘a long-term legislative and developmental roadmap'...

Case in point say critics was the decision by leaders to elect Djibouti's Foreign Minister Mahmoud Ali Youssouf as Chair of the AU Commission in February 2025 over Raila Odinga...

ODM founder Raila Odinga who died last October had kept the party's rival factions from open conflict (AC Vol 66 No 21 Opposition colossus Odinga dies leaving succession crisis)...

Sifuna together with Siaya Governor James Orengo – one of Raila Odinga's oldest allies – and Nairobi MP Babu Owino has held a series of rallies in recent weeks under the banner Linda Mwananchi (‘Protect the Citizens') fuelling speculation that they and other ODM dissidents plan to form a breakaway party...

This helps explain the split within the Orange Democratic Movement after its then leader Raila Odinga – who died last October – formed an unofficial unity government with Ruto despite younger ODM leaders such as Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna seeing an opportunity to harness the Gen Z movement...

That is the most confident he has sounded since before the Gen Z protests stormed Parliament in June 2024 leading him to sack his cabinet create a de facto unity government with the late Raila Odinga less than two years after narrowly defeating Odinga for the presidency and several months later having his Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua impeached (AC Vol 65 No 16 Raila names his price)...

Winnie Odinga claims that this urgency is in part because the 10-point agenda signed by the late Raila Odinga who died last October and Ruto on 7 March last year to formalise the unity government was only binding for one year (AC Vol 66 No 6 Ex-rivals Ruto and Odinga tussle for power in new alliance & Vol 66 No 21 Opposition colossus Odinga dies leaving succession crisis)...

In the central Gikuyu region and the Rift Valley – Ruto's heartland – there are justifiable fears that ODM's influence would mean more top jobs for politicians from Raila Odinga's fiefdoms in Nyanza and the Coast...

The death of Raila Odinga last October left a void in Kenyan politics and at the heart of his Orange Democratic Movement...

There is still speculation that Ruto's allies led by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi will try to push through constitutional amendments that look remarkably similar to those in the Building Bridges Initiative – the result of the handshake deal between Uhuru Kenyatta and Raila Odinga that was supposed to carry the latter to the presidency in 2022...