Why Sifuna Is Right: The MoU Is Dead, the Money Is Hidden, and ODM Is Being Choked”: Hon. Ruth Odinga, MP
The fierce attacks directed at Nairobi Senator and ODM Secretary-General Hon. Edwin Sifuna following his recent Citizen TV interview reveal a troubling truth about our politics: dissent is now treated as betrayal, and questions are answered with insults rather than facts.
In recent months, Sifuna—together with a group of ODM leaders hastily branded “rebels”—has found himself at the centre of a widening rift within the party. The fault line is clear. It runs straight through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in March 2025 between President William Ruto and the late former Prime Minister, Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga.
What Sifuna did on national television was not treasonous. He did what millions of Kenyans and ODM supporters have been asking quietly and sometimes loudly across the country: where is the money coming from?
As a signatory to ODM party accounts, Sifuna raised legitimate concerns about the funding behind the high-octane “Linda Ground” conventions—choppers crisscrossing the skies, massive tents erected overnight, crowds mobilised and branded in party regalia.
He stated plainly that ODM, as a party, has not spent a single shilling on these activities. That admission alone should have sparked sober reflection, not online lynching.
If ODM is not paying, then who is?
Are governors financing these rallies? Are MPs dipping into CDF funds? Or has a mysterious philanthropist emerged, one unknown even to the Party Secretary-General bankrolling campaigns that cost millions? And if so, what exactly does this benefactor want in return?
These are not rebellious questions. They are questions of accountability.
The urgency of these concerns is sharpened by one stark fact: ODM is constitutionally entitled to public funding based on its numerical strength.
According to Sifuna, the government owes the party an estimated Sh. 12 billion. That money has not been released. Why? Because releasing it would mean surrendering control.
Instead, resources are channelled indirectly through rallies, logistics, and carefully managed public forums where attendance is curated, messages are scripted, and dissent is instantly silenced.
This explains why leaders who stray even slightly from the approved narrative are booed down, as witnessed with Suba North MP Hon. Millie Odhiambo at Ciala Resort in Kisumu.
Let us be honest with ourselves. If the MoU was working, there would be no need for such tight control. Yet, with less than 30 days to its expiry, even the most optimistic supporter can see the writing on the wall. The agreement has not been honoured. Its promises remain largely unimplemented.
What, then, is so outrageous about Sifuna calling it what it is,….dead?
History should humble us. Raila Odinga himself was labelled a rebel many times during KANU, during Narc, even during the “nusu mkate” government. Yet he never surrendered his voice, even when compromise was the order of the day.
ODM was built on courage, not choir singing.
To the loud “Tutam” chorus within the party, a simple question must be asked: if President Ruto cannot honour an agreement he personally signed with a man he publicly credited for stabilising the country after the Gen-Z protests, what guarantees do you have that he will honour a future pre-election pact? Will he append a different signature?
I write this knowing I, too, have been branded a rebel. So be it. These words are on record so that when the going gets tough, and it will you will not accuse some of us of silence.
The failure of the MoU cannot be pinned on committees or technical teams, including the 10-point agenda implementation group (COIN-10). Responsibility rests squarely with the bearer of the signature: President William Ruto.
We have until March 7. The country, and ODM supporters, are watching.
