The cracks inside Kenya’s Orange Democratic Movement widened on Tuesday after the party’s Secretary General, Edwin Sifuna, publicly distanced himself from a series of rallies held under the ODM banner, saying they were financed outside official party channels.
Speaking on Citizen TV’s The Explainer, Senator Sifuna said the resources poured into the high-profile “Linda Ground” rallies did not come from ODM headquarters. His remarks added fresh strain to an already uneasy party, still adjusting to shifting alliances after last year’s bipartisan talks between ODM and President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance.
“I can state authoritatively that the resources you see being spent in ODM rallies, the so-called Linda Ground, are not coming from ODM headquarters,” Sifuna said.
“I know for a fact that there is parallel funding for activities clothed in ODM colours,” he added.
The Nairobi senator was careful to draw a line around his own responsibilities. As a signatory to the party’s accounts, he said, he could only account for money formally approved by the party.
“You will ask them,” he told the programme’s host, Yvonne Okwara, when pressed on who might be paying for the events. “I can only account for monies that I am a signatory to.”
His comments appear to place him at odds with a faction within ODM that has pushed ahead with rallies meant to project unity and momentum. Mr Sifuna is widely seen as having fallen out with a camp aligned to new party leadership figures, deepening questions about who now speaks for the party and who controls its purse strings.
He dismissed suggestions that senior officials were quietly funding the rallies. ODM’s finances, he said, are tightly managed, and the party has not officially spent money since its 20th anniversary celebrations in Mombasa last year.
“The last money we expended as ODM officially was for the celebrations in Mombasa,” he said, noting that the sum was modest compared with the scale of recent events.
Mr Sifuna also turned his fire on the state, saying ODM was owed substantial funds by the National Treasury. “As we speak, ODM is owed a total of KSh12 billion by the Treasury,” he said, a pointed remark given that the Treasury is now headed by a former ODM chairman.
The dispute over money is unfolding against a broader backdrop of political realignment. The National Dialogue Committee talks, led by the late ODM leader Raila Odinga and President Ruto, produced proposals aimed at easing political tensions including plans for an independent body to regulate and fund political parties.
“Baba, through NADCO, had agreed with UDA to establish an independent political parties regulatory commission,” Senator Sifuna said, arguing that such oversight was long overdue.
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