EALA MP Winnie Odinga has called for an urgent Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) National Delegates Conference (NDC) to review key party decisions and assess progress on the 2024 10-point agenda, warning that sidelining party organs and intimidating members undermines ODM’s democratic principles.
Speaking during an interview on Citizen TV on Tuesday, Odinga said the current tensions within ODM must be understood in the context of post-election disputes and the Gen Z-led protests that followed.
She explained that the 10-point agenda was developed by late ODM leader Raila Odinga after young protesters declined formal talks, prompting him to engage widely across society to identify their core concerns.
“That is the 10-point agenda. It was promulgated on the 26th of August, 2024, and it has an expiry date of the 7th of March, 2026,” she said, stressing that the document was never intended to be a coalition agreement. “It was a social contract with the people of Kenya.”
Odinga argued that debate within the party has been misplaced, urging the media and political actors to focus on implementation rather than personalities.
“The question you should be asking is, on point number one, where have you reached? On point number two, where have you reached?” she said. “If you trash it and you have not completed it, then on what basis are you negotiating for the people of Kenya?”
She further alleged widespread intimidation within ODM, claiming members are being punished for expressing dissenting views.
“People are being intimidated in the party… being removed from committees in county assemblies and Parliament,” Odinga said. “We’ve reached a situation where you’re being told to fill out forms on whether you support the regime of the day.”
According to Odinga, such actions contradict ODM’s long-held identity as a people-driven movement. “This party belongs to the people. We have never moved a step without them, and we will not begin,” she said, adding that the NDC remains the party’s strongest decision-making organ.
She emphasized that the NDC should go beyond ratifying leaders to include reforms, accountability, and renewal.
“This party has to be refreshed. It has to move from being so centralized and send resources to the grassroots,” Odinga said, noting that ODM must explain what it has achieved, what it has not, and why, ahead of the next election.
Odinga said there appears to be growing support within the party for convening an NDC, but warned that personal agendas risk derailing collective decision-making.
“Everybody has their own personal agenda,” she said, reiterating that the voice of ODM’s members must remain central to the party’s future direction.
