Sifuna declares ODM’s MoU with UDA dead, says agreement collapsed after police killings
Sifuna explained that the MOU with Ruto was intended to achieve two key objectives: ending violence against ODM supporters and safeguarding Kenya’s democratic principles.
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna has declared the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between ODM and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) “dead.”
Speaking during an interview with Citizen TV on Tuesday, Sifuna said the Kenya Kwanza administration had failed to uphold the MOU’s original intent, accusing it of turning the agreement into a political public relations tool.
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He distanced himself from the ongoing cooperation, stating that the pact no longer holds and should be considered defunct.
“I have asked respectfully that I be left out of that team because I have already declared this MoU dead. I have already done so publicly. So there is no point. I’m not a mortician. There is no point in me going to go through a document that I’ve already declared dead,” he said.
He explained that the MOU was intended to achieve two key objectives: ending violence against ODM supporters and safeguarding Kenya’s democratic principles. However, he noted that ODM supporters continue to face police brutality, undermining the very purpose of the agreement.
Sifuna said President Ruto is benefiting from the agreement, as the democratic state is being maintained—at least until 2027—but ODM supporters are not.
He argued that the continued killing of their supporters undermined the deal, pointing to the death of Albert Ojwang in a police cell as the breaking point.
Meaningless
In his view, the agreement with Ruto became meaningless the moment Ojwang died, as no political gains could compensate for such a loss.
When asked whether he had communicated his frustrations to ODM party leader Raila Odinga, Sifuna confirmed that he had. He, however, said there are many private conversations and details of which he cannot reveal.
“I have. I have spoken with Baba (Odinga). I have explained to him my frustrations, the difficulties of having to explain what we are doing with this rogue regime, the confusion that has come upon my mind, because this is not what I was taught,” he said.
Dissatisfaction with collaboration
He noted that Odinga receives feedback from across Kenya, indicating dissatisfaction with the ODM-UDA collaboration.
“Feedback comes from across the country because Baba has possibly the best grassroots network in this country. They are telling him from Mandera, Tana River, Coast, and north eastern; they’re saying this relationship is hurting our political party,” Sifuna said.
He maintained that he remains loyal to Odinga, describing him as the only political leader he has known.
Sifuna revealed that he had personally advised the ODM leadership against entering into the MOU, but his warnings were ignored.
“I am on record having advised the party against doing this MOU with UDA, and we still went ahead and entered that MOU. But you see, the beauty is that you are proven right every day,” he said.
He accused President William Ruto’s UDA party of betraying the spirit and purpose of the MOU.
“The problem with doing a formal MoU with UDA is that it didn’t matter what the MoU said. The people from UDA, the government, and William Ruto are not interested in the details of the MOU,” he said.
Public relations
According to Sifuna, UDA was only interested in the MOU for its public relations value.
“They wanted a document that they could then go and run a PR campaign around and say, ‘Oh, tumeungana, we are together.’ That is not what this document says. This document does not establish a coalition agreement between ODM and UDA, but that’s the impression they’ve been creating,” he noted.
He admitted that the MoU had become a public relations disaster for ODM, adding that the role of managing that fallout had unfairly fallen to him as the party’s secretary-general.
“I had warned that the PR disaster that was going to come from this was going to be very difficult to manage. Unfortunately, the foremost PR officer for the party is the SG, and that is where there’s difficulty that has come from this,” he said.
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