Sifuna: I’m Ready to Step Aside as ODM SG, But Will Never Work with Ruto

 

Nairobi Senator and Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General Edwin Sifuna has said he would willingly step down from his party leadership role if asked, reiterating his deep loyalty to the ODM cause and firm opposition to President William Ruto’s administration.

In a candid interview, Sifuna revealed that his appointment as ODM Secretary General was never about personal ambition, but about service to the party. “Even when I became SG of ODM, I was asked if I could handle the job, and I said yes,” he recalled. “If that same person called me today and said, ‘Sifuna, I have lost confidence in your ability to do this job’ — I would relinquish it without blinking. This position is not mine.”

The senator also reflected on the aftermath of the 2022 general elections, where despite winning the Nairobi Senate seat, he was unable to celebrate. “I had been elected for the first time as senator, but because I was SG of ODM and my party leader had lost the presidential election, I never got a chance to enjoy the moment,” he said. “I was locked up in my house for almost three months. I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I had no answers for the people.”

Turning to continental politics, Sifuna blamed President Ruto’s foreign policy missteps for what he called the sabotage of ODM leader Raila Odinga’s African Union Commission chairmanship bid.

“We had a stellar candidate in Raila Odinga,” he said. “But he was messed up by William Ruto’s fumbling of Kenya’s foreign policy. The vote was not about Raila — it was a reflection of how African heads of state view William Ruto. That has been my position and it will never change.”

Sifuna also dismissed any notion of working with President Ruto or joining his government. “It would be very foolish for anyone to join this government knowing full well that it is going in two years,” he said. “It would be impossible for me to work with William Ruto.”

He emphasized that his focus remains on serving the people of Nairobi in the Senate and earning their trust for re-election in 2027. “I try every day to do my job in the Senate to make a convincing case that I deserve a second term. That is my mission now,” Sifuna concluded.

His remarks underscore growing tensions between ODM and the Kenya Kwanza administration, and come amid speculation over future political realignments ahead of the next general election.