Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma has dismissed claims of internal divisions within the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), affirming that the party remains united across the country and continues to play a critical role in national politics.
Speaking on NTV on Monday, Kaluma emphasized that “there is no mrengo in ODM, we are one united, and by demographics and geography, we cover the largest swaths of the country.”
Kaluma traced the origins of ODM’s current national strategy to the late party leader, Raila Odinga, popularly referred to as Baba, highlighting his extensive consultations across the country after losing the AUC seat.
“Baba returned to the country and engaged all his spaces in what he called consultations, broadcast live. The resounding position was that we needed, as a party coming from the 2023 cost of living demonstrations, to move into a working arrangement with the governing coalition, the Kenya Kwanzaa coalition, to address the issues which caused the demonstrations,” he said.
The lawmaker clarified that the alliance between ODM and UDA gave birth to the 10-Point Memorandum of Understanding, a framework that seeks to tackle national challenges such as inclusivity, youth employment and empowerment, protection of fundamental rights, and economic stability.
“People have spoken about the 10-Point agenda, but they don’t speak to the preamble of the memorandum, which was very deep. We identified the issues undermining our stability as a nation and said there was need for Kenya to realize that we are one society, we can move together as a people without intentions of the past, and have a stable economy,” Kaluma said.
Kaluma also highlighted the importance of protecting ODM’s traditional bases, noting that the party’s strength lies in regions historically aligned with its vision.
“These bases are not ODM bases for no reason. ODM has been the voice for the downtrodden, the voice for the marginalized areas,” he said, listing key regions including North Eastern, Tana River, the Coast, parts of Rift Valley, Western Kenya, Nyanza, and Nairobi.
Reflecting on Kenya’s political history, Kaluma argued that opposition parties often failed because they could not form coalitions.
“If you looked at the 1992 and 1997 elections, the opposition leaders together had more than double the votes Moi got. From 2002, we realized parties based on formations and demographics had to form coalitions,” he said.
