ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna (left), Embakasi East MP Babu Owino and his Westlands counterpart, Timothy Wanyonyi. The three skipped President Ruto's tour of Nairobi on March 10, 2025.
Three Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) lawmakers from Nairobi skipped the first leg of President William Ruto’s tour of the city on Monday, pointing at a possible political defiance against the Friday cooperation agreement.
Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, who is also the ODM Secretary-General, Embakasi East MP Babu Owino and Westlands MP Timothy Wanyonyi were conspicuously absent in Kamukunji constituency where President Ruto began his series of political activities.
Mr Sifuna has remained one of Dr Ruto’s fiercest critics, while Mr Owino and Mr Wanyonyi have declared their interest in running for the Nairobi governor position against incumbent Johnson Sakaja.
The absence of Mr Wanyonyi and Mr Owino could be linked to ODM leader Raila Odinga’s decision to back Governor Sakaja, a member of President Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA), for a second term in office, placing him as a likely major beneficiary of the new political marriage.
Mr Sifuna told Nation he was attending a parliamentary committee session. Mr Owino and Mr Wanyonyi did not respond to our inquiries on why they skipped the President’s development tour.
Also absent – and which was largely expected – were allies of Dr Ruto’s estranged former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua. They include Embakasi Central MP Benjamin Gathiru alias MejjaDonk and Embakasi North MP James Gakuya. Embakasi South MP Julius Mawathe, an ally of Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka also snubbed the President.
However, a majority of Mr Odinga’s allies in the city showed up in what suggested their endorsement of the political pact.
Those present were Nairobi Woman Representative Esther Passaris, MPs Beatrice Elachi (Dagoretti North), Phelix Odiwuor Jalang’o (Langata), George Aladwa (Makadara), Anthony Oluoch (Mathare), Peter Orero (Kibra) and Tom Kajwang’ (Ruaraka).
President William Ruto, Deputy President Kithure Kindiki and Nairobi Governor Sakaja Johnson join pupils of Zawadi Comprehensive School, Kamukunji in Nairobi County for lunch during the official opening of the Dishi na County Central Kitchen on March 10, 2025.
Others were Kamukunji MP Yusuf Hassan (Jubilee), Dagoretti South MP John Kiarie (UDA), Embakasi West MP Mark Mwenje (Jubilee) and Kasarani MP Ronald Karauri (Independent).
ODM lawmakers were largely expected to accompany Dr Ruto, who has lined up a series of political rallies in the city to launch projects and popularise his cooperation agreement with Mr Odinga. The President had initially planned for a five-day tour of the city but has since revised it to three days of Monday, Thursday and Friday, according to State House.
Nairobi has in the past elections remained largely in the grip of Mr Odinga’s ODM with the majority Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of County Assembly (MCAs) elected on the ticket, with the tour likely to set the tone for Nairobi politics going into 2027 General Election as politicians begin to align themselves with different formations.
Dr Ruto on Monday visited a host of development projects by both the national and county governments. In the tour, Dr Ruto was accompanied by his deputy, Prof Kithure Kindiki, Governor Sakaja, Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, among other leaders.
Hundreds of residents of Eastleigh turned out in numbers to welcome the President, with his first stop being Kamukunji Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), where he announced plans to expand the facility to accommodate more learners. He promised to allocate Sh50 million towards the construction of a new complex in the institution.
“We need to do another complex that will bring onboard engineering, automotive, electrical and building technology and I think there is space to be done here,” the President said.
“So, I’m committing the first Sh50 million to begin that process, and I want that process to begin by June. I will go and make some arrangements so that we can come and start that college so that we can take in more young people from this Eastleigh area so that we can equip them with skills, add them more facilities and make sure that we equip more and more young people in our nation so that they can participate in transforming our nation.”
“For the primary school because I see there is a need for facilities, I will send your member of parliament with Sh5 million for the primary school and then I’m going to provide a bus (for Tvet),” he said.
The President also announced plans to commence work at 2nd Avenue Road, which he said will start in the next two months. He also assured the residents that their perennial complaints over water shortage would be over once the Northern Collector Tunnel is launched.
The President also supervised the ongoing upgrading of Desert Pitch before sharing a meal with students during lunchtime at Zawadi Primary School.
President William Ruto addresses wananchi and traders at Eastleigh in Nairobi County on March 10, 2025. He was accompanied by Deputy President Kithure Kindiki, Nairobi Governor Sakaja Johnson, MPs, MCAs, among other leaders.
Mr Sakaja said the county stands to benefit greatly from the political truce as it would provide the necessary environment for development. He said that Nairobi has always turned out to be the major casualty of political instability.
“For Nairobi, I started with appointing CECs across the divide. One thing we have benefited a lot as a county is the good working relationship across the party lines, and now with the President and former Prime Minister agreeing to work together, we stand to benefit more,” said Mr Sakaja.
“We will be listening to the grassroots leaders, both the ODM and UDA leaders at the grassroots. You remember during our meeting at State House we pushed for Nairobi MPs to get Sh1 billion more for the construction of classrooms,” he said.
Sakaja's endorsement
With Mr Sakaja’s endorsement for a second term by Mr Odinga, Mr Owino and Mr Wanyonyi are the perceived immediate political casualties of the pact. The two have indicated their plans to run on ODM against the incumbent.
In the past, political players have engaged in horse trading and the sharing of key seats in the city by affiliate parties. Parties have in the past negotiated for positions to respond and to appeal to various voting ethnic blocs.
For instance, in the 2022 polls, Azimio of Mr Odinga fielded Polycarp Igathe (Jubilee Party) for governor, Mr Sifuna (ODM) for Senate and Ms Passaris (ODM) Woman Rep, among others in a delicate balancing act that factored in popularity of the individuals as well as the numerical strength of ethnic blocs in the city.
In UDA, the party also factored in ethnic arithmetic in picking its candidates. The party fielded Mr Sakaja for governor, Bishop Margret Wanjiru for Senate and Ms Millicent Omanga for Woman Rep.
In the negotiations, Mr Wanyonyi was one of the ODM governor aspirants, who had to sacrifice his ambition for the coalition to accommodate the interests of affiliate parties as well as ethnic dynamics. Bishop Wanjiru was also prevailed upon to scale down her ambition for governor in favour of Mr Sakaja.
In a previous interview with Nation, Mr Sakaja said his kind of politics made it easy for him to work with politicians from across the political divide. He said he easily campaigned, even in the opposition areas in Nairobi during the 2017 and 2022 elections.
“When I won the senate seat in 2017, Jubilee didn’t win Nairobi that time. The presidential vote was not pro-Uhuru, Raila won in Nairobi. But Sonko and myself were able to win governor and senate seats,” said Mr Sakaja.
“It is because we were never engaged in divisive politics. You have never heard me insult leaders in the opposition. I don’t do that; so I would go to ODM areas and be able to campaign freely. Many of my colleagues could not do that. So I could get both Jubilee and ODM votes to win the senate seat,” he said.
In the 2022 poll, he said he was able to win the governor's seat because he could easily appeal to both opposition and UDA supporters.
“UDA lost both the Senate and Woman Rep positions. We (UDA) got four out of 17 MP seats. Out of the 85 MCA seats, we got only 35,” he added.
