Join Gachagua? Why Linda Mwananchi team is split on 'Ruto wantam' strategy

ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna is a man of the moment. He has been the talk of the country in the last few weeks since his ODM party attempted to kick him out of the Secretary General position. He is creating vibes, not only among the excited youth on social media platforms, but also in political circles.

And as he says himself, he does not need to be populist as some of his colleagues in parliament like Narok Senator Ledama Ole Kina told him on Wednesday, because "I'm already very popular."

The embattled moto-mouth continues to fight for his position in the courts, but whatever the outcome, the next headache that awaits him and his group is which faction will go when deciding to work with the United Opposition.

This follows opposing hard-line positions taken by some members of the Linda Mwananchi team, who differ with his intention of working with the united opposition to stop splitting votes of the anti-president William Ruto side.

"There is a possibility of us working together with the Opposition," said Sifuna in an interview with journalists this week, even as his colleagues ruled out the possibility.

Political pundits think Sifuna has undoubtedly positioned himself as the leader of the group, and he can take them places unless something extraordinary happens. Embakasi MP Babu Owino is also a very capable fighter, not forgetting other valiant voices like Antony Kibagendi, Godfrey Osoti, Caleb Amisi and Richard Onyonka, with Governor James Orengo as the over-arching Counsel.

According to Sifuna, opposition political players in the country need to work as one force against Ruto to marshal at least five million votes in the Presidential contest, and hence the need to join forces within the Opposition ranks.

 “If you speak to ordinary Kenyans, there is a general acceptance that we need an overwhelming repudiation of Ruto and everything that he stands for. It has to be overwhelming. We must beat Ruto by at least five million votes so that it becomes a lesson and a precedent for the entire country that a government that does not listen to the people will be send home,” Sifuna said.

He added: “That precedent is critical for the future of this country. So in order for you to achieve that overwhelming repudiation, there is a common understanding amongst the population that we must approach this election as a unit”.

Reiterating that their movement was not out to split the votes, Sifuna stated that Kenyans could not afford an additional five years under the Ruto regime and would willingly team up with Kalonzo Musyoka-Rigathi Gachagua formation to put up a solid political base to face the president in 2027.

“We will not be the problem because I can't countenance waking up and hearing Ruto has won elections by 100,000 votes or 200,000 like he did last time. So let members of the United opposition keep doing what they are doing,’ he added.

According to Sifuna, unseating Ruto would not be a walk in the pack saying they needed to deploy various political formations using a different strategy to rally their supporters against his administration.

Sifuna is, however, cognisant of the tough challenge that awaits them: “We are not under any illusion that it's going to be easy. This guy has the State. He has proclivities and inclinations to violence. He can manufacture situations such as we've seen in Uganda and in Tanzania to ensure that we don't campaign," said Sifuna.

He accepts that Ruto has certain strengths, including the art of destabilising and not allowing much room for sentiment within the opposition ranks.

And that is why all the opposition leaders must agree to work on a foolproof formula that will, without fail, take Ruto home in 2027 through the ballot.

‘When you are hunting an animal that is dangerous, you don't all come in from one direction; you approach it from different sides. All of us must wake up the spirit of the nation and say this is a moment that we need to set that precedent that the people are supreme,” says Sifuna

It is a viewpoint that is supported by Embakasi East MP Babu Owino who dismissed claims that their team should not work with former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua over claims that he was anti-Raila in 2022.

“Gachagua is a Kenyan. He was persecuted and removed from office and that is why I did not vote for his impeachment. He used to be arrested with his inner wear as he fought for this regime and then you start persecuting him. When did he start being a bad person? I'm ready to work with everybody, Raila too worked with Ruto who persecuted him and stole his victory,’ the MP added.

However, Saboti MP Caleb Amisi, a member of the Linda Mwananchi team, differed with the idea of working with a political grouping that is "largely informed by ethnic balkanization."

In a candid interview with Unfiltered, a KTN podcast on current affairs, Amisi maintained that their team should leverage the youthful vote to oust President Ruto as opposed to using a tribal card, which he claimed would work in Ruto's favour.

 "Sifuna’s claims that he will join Gachagua’s political formation was wrong because before joining an outfit, you must have first aligned yourself ideologically. We can't just wake up one day and say we are joining them. The issue is not just removing Ruto. The issue is also trying to solve the traditional problem that Kenya has been experiencing, tribalism, corruption and mismanagement of the economy,” Amisi said.

Sifuna however appears to be positioning himself as someone who is seeking a national persuasion, as opposed to a leader from the Mulembe nation or the western region, because he is the Senator for the cosmopolitan Nairobi county and a crusader of the youth agenda.

Amisi claimed they could not beat Ruto on tribal arithmetic, because it is a strategy he used to win in almost all the by-elections; instead, they needed to bank on massive youth mobilization to end the culture of the ethnic voting patterns.

 “I want Gachagua to stop just talking about the Central region. He's alienating that region from the rest. He's even making Ruto popular among the Somali, the Northeasterners, and the Coasterians who feel marginalized against the big tribes. The more you lose small patches of votes here and there, the more you are losing the popular vote,” he added.

He however said if the Opposition corrected their mistakes, they would join them as they were a lesser devil compared to President Ruto’s political formation.

Siaya governor James Orengo however took a more balanced position, saying it was premature for Linda Mwananchi to talk about whether or not to join the Opposition. He thinks they have a lot of ground to cover before embarking on such possibilities.

"The thinking behind joining whichever political formation must be anchored on fundamental principles of what each political grouping stands for in terms of national values." say Orengo.

On whether or not he would work with Gachagua based on his purported dislike for the late Raila, Orengo said: “All that was said about traps was on Ruto's behalf, the person who took away Raila’s Presidency was Ruto. It was him who called him all manner of names. If there is a person singling the one we should not talk to, then that person would be Ruto and there should be no double standards.”