Hon Alai Tears Into Sifuna Over “Empty Rhetoric” as Sifuna Admits ODM Is in Confusion.
Nairobi, July 23, 2025 –
Nairobi Senator and ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna has admitted that articulating the party’s official positions has become increasingly difficult due to internal contradictions and mixed messaging—remarks that have sparked sharp criticism from Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai.
Speaking last night on The Explainer show hosted by Citizen TV, Sifuna said the party’s ideological clarity has been blurred by a wave of its members accepting positions in the Kenya Kwanza government, leaving ODM supporters confused and disillusioned.
“Right now, there is a lot of confusion. I have told my party leader that there was a time when it was very easy to be the SG of ODM… You would wake me up in the middle of the night and ask me anything because we agreed that you can compromise on tactics, but you can never compromise on your values,” Sifuna said, as tweeted by @citizentvkenya.
He continued:
“There are things that ODM stands for. When you ask me my position on devolution or rights under Article 37, I would give you the answer straight away. But right now, there is a lot of confusion because I come to this show and I struggle to explain that we are the same political party.”
Sifuna cited examples of former senior ODM officials now holding government positions as a major cause of the public’s uncertainty about ODM’s political direction.
“You see a member of ODM who used to be in a premier position—now he is the Cabinet Secretary—and it leaves our supporters very confused,” he added.
In response, Kileleshwa MCA Robert Alai took to his official Facebook page, blasting Sifuna for what he called “parroting” without offering real value to the party’s strategic direction.
“Every political party has parrots and strategists. Sifuna is the party’s parrot—nothing more. He adds no strategic value to ODM,” Alai wrote.
Alai accused the Senator of focusing too much on national television appearances and attacking President William Ruto, while failing to carry out his constitutional role of oversight at the Nairobi County level.
“Sifuna finds it easier to target Ruto, someone who won’t respond, rather than face Governor Sakaja, whom he’s supposed to hold accountable. That’s not courage—it’s distraction,” said Alai.
The Kileleshwa MCA also claimed Sifuna failed to energize ODM’s grassroots in Nairobi during the last general election, and couldn’t even rally support for the party in his home constituency of Kanduyi, Bungoma County.
Alai further slammed Sifuna for allegedly undermining senior ODM leaders like Opiyo Wandayi, Wycliffe Oparanya, and John Mbadi—whom Sifuna reportedly described on the show as “out of touch with current realities.”
“Now he insults the same leaders who’ve held ODM together for years, pretending he’s the only one with sense. Yet even the party website is stuck in the Nyong’o era,” Alai wrote.
The back-and-forth highlights deepening internal strains within ODM over how to handle collaboration with the ruling coalition, and how to redefine the party’s identity heading into 2027.
