In a deeply personal statement released on Monday, the long-serving Orange Democratic Movement strategist, Philip Etale reflected on his decades-long relationship with Raila Odinga and issued a blunt message to critics questioning his place in the party.
“No one can teach me how to be in ODM, nobody can lecture me how well to be on the right side of history,” Etale said.
Etale traced his political journey back to the year 2000, when he first met Odinga at the age of 20. What followed, he said, was not just a political association but a relationship shaped by mentorship, discipline and trust.
“Half my life, I had been close to Raila Odinga and I mean very close,” Etale said. “He was like my father, my mentor and my teacher in many things in life.”
He recalled moments of private counsel and correction, including late-night phone calls, quiet advice and shared meals that balanced stern guidance with warmth.
“Holding my hand he did. Walking with me he did,” Etale said. “Even in the wee hours of the night, he would call when there was something he wanted to share.”
That influence, Etale said, extended into his professional life. While working in the media, he admired Odinga’s political instincts so deeply that he was willing to take personal risks to ensure the ODM leader’s voice was heard.
“I put my career on the line just to ensure he was visible,” he said.
At the heart of Etale’s statement was a firm declaration of political identity. He stressed that his loyalty to ODM was neither recent nor conditional.
“I am in ODM. I have been in ODM for the twenty years it has existed,” he said. “And I will be in ODM for as long as it exists.”
He added that his commitment endured even during moments of internal strain, including periods when sections of the party’s support base drifted away. When Odinga once jokingly asked whether he had also left, Etale said his response was immediate.
“Hell no,” he recalled.
Etale dismissed what he described as pressure, online commentary and internal whispers aimed at questioning his standing in the party. Loyalty, he said, is not performance, it is consistency.
“Loyalty is the difference,” he said.
He closed with a line that left little room for ambiguity.
“I am in ODM, history or not, I am ODM,” said Etale.
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