Why ODM should convene NDC meeting over broad-based pact with Ruto- Winnie Odinga
She urged the party’s highest decision-making organ to intervene, asserting that the matter is too complicated for the current officials.
Winnie Odinga on Friday said that the ODM party should convene a National Delegates Convention (NDC) to determine the future of its political working arrangement with President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza government.
Speaking during the ODM at 20 celebrations in Mombasa on Saturday, November 15, 2025, Winnie questioned the capacity of current party leaders to make informed decisions regarding the "broad-based pact" in the absence of her late father, Raila Odinga.
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“When it came to the matter of this broad-based government, the people of ODM entrusted one person with the management of that relationship, and that person was Baba Raila Amollo Odinga,” she stated.
She urged the party’s highest decision-making organ to intervene, asserting that the matter is too complicated for the current officials.
"That relationship is complicated, and therefore we are looking and wondering, those taking it upon themselves to manage it now, are they capable of managing that relationship? That is not a question for me to answer. It is a question for the people of ODM to answer. It is why I am requesting we go back to the people and see who the people will pick to handle that relationship," she stated.
This follows criticism levelled by Siaya Governor James Orengo, who spoke on Friday.
Governor Orengo criticised a section of ODM members for aligning themselves too closely with President Ruto’s administration under the guise of the agreement, calling the move "cowardly.
He stressed that it is Ruto who needs ODM, not the other way around, as the president has failed to live up to Kenyans' expectations.
This comes as the party prepares to field its own presidential candidate in the 2027 General Election.
"We want a government that is accountable and now, as we speak, I dare say, Ruto needs ODM, it's not ODM that needs Ruto. Sijui mnaniskia. There are people in the party behaving as if ODM is the one that needs Ruto, "said Orengo.
"It's Ruto that needs ODM, kwa sababu ameshindwa. I'm not afraid to say, I have nothing to fear but fear. I was very happy when Dr Oburu (Oginga) said ODM haitamezwa."
He further asserted that ODM remains capable of fielding its own presidential candidate in 2027, dismissing the broad-based arrangement as non-binding.
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