The Cabinet Secretary for Treasury John Mbadi has looked back on his tenure as ODM national chairman, acknowledging that keeping order within the Orange Democratic Movement was a challenging duty.
Mbadi, the longest-serving ODM member during Baba’s era, acknowledged that he had a challenging job keeping party members under control.
Maintaining order
“As the party chair, you have the responsibility for overseeing the most challenging task, which is to enforce party discipline.” Indiscipline is a common issue for nearly half of our members. This party has been constructed in this manner. According to him, in ODM, it is not possible to process a large number of orders.
The CS, however, appealed to party officials and members to chart a way forward by submitting to the authority of its leaders.
According to Mbadi, ODM successfully overcame multiple hurdles simply by heeding the instructions given by its leader.
When we disagreed and complained, this was acceptable, but as soon as the party leader spoke, the situation changed. He suggested we should maintain that same dynamic, where we can have differing opinions and debate, but when our party leader, Oburu, addresses us, we should give him our attention.
Winnie Odinga’s comments follow those of Mbadi, who had already spoken on the future of the ODM party, refuting claims of potential divisions on Friday, November 14, 2025.
The late Raila Odinga’s daughter described them as meaningless noise.
She said the ODM party division will be ignored, just like the noise of crickets.
The legislator warned against split attempts within the party, stating that opportunistic actions would be unsuccessful.
Split into ODM?
“If someone is thinking that way, realise that ODM is constructing and we are not playing games,” she noted, emphasizing that the party is concentrated on building and not playing games.
She also highlighted efforts by some to secretly undermine the party, stating, “Some are walking with us during the day and at night they’re trying to sell the party, they won’t succeed. ODM is not for sale.”
Winnie also dismissed the idea of clandestine agreements, saying, “ODM was not conceived in secret, nor created in secret, so its future cannot be discussed in hushed conversations.”
“She explained that ODM was created through protests, nurtured within a culture of resistance, and remains a movement owned by its people.”
