By Kepher Otieno - Reporter
Kenya, 3 July 2026 - The campaign to consolidate support for President William Ruto's re-election is gathering momentum within sections of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), exposing the party's widening ideological divide ahead of the 2027 General Election.
Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo has become the latest senior ODM legislator to publicly endorse a second term for President Ruto, arguing that the Luo community has more to gain by remaining within the broad-based government than by returning to the opposition.
Speaking in Gem Constituency and later in an interview with journalists, Odhiambo dismissed calls by some ODM leaders to distance the party from the Kenya Kwanza administration.
"There is absolutely no reason why the Luo community should retreat to the opposition after spending more than two decades fighting to assume the presidency with little or no success," he said.
"Now that ODM has partnered with the government for the common good of all Kenyans, we have no reason to resent or fight the Ruto administration."
His remarks underscore the growing confidence of the faction aligned to ODM leader Dr Oburu Oginga Odinga, which argues that engagement with government offers a better path to political influence and development than remaining outside power.
Odhiambo described the broad-based government arrangement as the most pragmatic political vehicle available to ODM supporters.
"The Oburu-Ruto partnership is the best bet for Kenya ahead of the 2027 elections. All the other political formations are based on imagination and wishful thinking," he said.
He urged Luo voters to rally behind the broad-based government and back President Ruto's re-election bid, saying the community should seize what he termed a rare opportunity to participate directly in national governance.
"I will firmly lead President Ruto's re-election campaign in Gem in 2027 because I believe this partnership serves the interests of our people and the country."
Odhiambo also took direct aim at leaders within ODM who have criticised the party's cooperation with President Ruto.
Without mincing words, he urged supporters to ignore what he described as dissenting voices led by Siaya Governor James Orengo, ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna and like-minded leaders advocating a return to opposition politics.
"We should not be dissuaded by those pulling in a direction that is contrary to the party's current course," he said.
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According to Odhiambo, the Luo community risks political marginalisation if it abandons the broad-based arrangement.
"The Luo community cannot afford to play third fiddle while other communities continue to shape the country's political direction. We must recalibrate and reinvent our politics for the common good of all."
He added: "We must say no to retreating to the opposition trenches where Orengo, Sifuna and their allies want to take us. No way."
The remarks reflect an increasingly open contest within ODM over the party's future identity.
One camp, led by Oburu and several legislators, argues that working with President Ruto gives the party greater leverage to influence national policy while accelerating development projects in its traditional strongholds.
The opposing camp insists ODM risks diluting its identity as Kenya's principal opposition party and weakening its bargaining power ahead of the next election.
The competing narratives are expected to dominate ODM's grassroots mobilisation as party officials prepare for nominations expected to be conducted under new rules emphasising popular support rather than elite endorsements.
For President Ruto, endorsements from influential ODM lawmakers provide evidence that the broad-based government is steadily reshaping Kenya's political landscape.
For ODM, however, they also expose the delicate balancing act facing a party seeking to maintain unity while accommodating sharply different visions of its future.
Whether the broad-based alliance evolves into a formal electoral coalition in 2027 may ultimately depend on whether leaders such as Odhiambo can persuade ODM's grassroots supporters that political cooperation, rather than confrontation, offers the surest route to power.