Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi said Friday that Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga now holds sole authority to decide the Orange Democratic Movement’s political direction and any coalitions ahead of Kenya’s 2027 elections.
Speaking in an exclusive Newsroom interview, Mbadi, a former ODM national chairman, sought to end weeks of speculation about the party’s future following the death of longtime leader Raila Odinga.
“The party leader is the only person allowed to negotiate any arrangement — be it a coalition or the political direction of ODM,” Mbadi said. “Dr. Oburu Oginga will finally announce to the country the direction we are taking.”
Turbulence called normal after Raila’s exit
Mbadi acknowledged public differences among senior officials, including Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna and one unnamed deputy party leader, but described the disagreements as expected.
“You don’t expect a towering leader to leave the scene and everything remains the same,” he said. “It’s like a big tree falling in the forest — there will be noise, birds will scatter, but eventually things settle.”
He said most of the party’s central committee remains aligned and the current turbulence is already easing.
Luhya elders seek answers
The comments came one day after Sifuna and deputy party leader Godfrey Osotsi, the Vihiga senator, met Luhya community elders in western Kenya.
The elders, led by former Cabinet minister Noah Wekesa and Patrick Wangamati, complained they had received no briefing on the broad-based government arrangement despite the community’s strong support for ODM.
Mbadi defends Sh2 billion daily graft claim
On economic matters, Mbadi stood by his recent assertion that Kenya loses 2 billion shillings ($15.5 million) a day to corruption, citing a public statement by former President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“A sitting president with all intelligence machinery said it. I had no reason to doubt it,” Mbadi said, adding that the failure to act on the revelation four years ago contributed to the country’s current debt distress.
He highlighted ongoing anti-graft measures under his watch at Treasury, including mandatory e-procurement, expansion of the Treasury Single Account to cover Parliament, a unified payroll system to remove ghost workers and a full switch to zero-based budgeting within the next financial year.
“Budgeted corruption is ending,” he said.
Economy was “almost collapsing,” CS says
Mbadi said the Kenya Kwanza administration inherited an economy that international assessments had categorized as at risk of collapse.
“That is not an economy you fix in one, two or three years,” he said, stressing that macroeconomic stability must come before relief reaches ordinary citizens.
He attributed widespread cash shortages to job scarcity rather than wage cuts and said stalled public projects are being revived through models that do not strain state finances.
With political realignment accelerating across Kenya, Mbadi’s declaration effectively places Oburu Oginga — Raila Odinga’s elder brother and a veteran party strategist — at the center of ODM’s 2027 calculations.
