Spotlight turns to ODM 'experts' in Ruto's regime as crises pile up

When they joined President William Ruto’s government in 2024 after the soft political handshake between the President and the late ODM leader Raila Odinga, many had hoped they were the missing link that would help calm the economic storm that had hit the UDA administration and help Ruto steady his rocky ship.

Nearly two years later, the performances of the Cabinet Secretaries and Principal Secretaries that ODM donated to join the President’s regime are coming under heavy scrutiny as a series of wobbles the government is experiencing drops on their doorsteps.

The so-called experts, however, have morphed into classic political youth wingers, turning their backs on their roles and instead drooling for a chance to deputise Ruto in the 2027 General Election or crafting their political survival plan as the deal that propelled them to power crumbles.

For Cabinet Secretaries Opiyo Wandayi (Energy), John Mbadi (Finance), Hassan Joho (Blue Economy), Wycliffe Oparanya (Co-operatives) and Beatrice Askul (EAC and ASALs), focus has now shifted to campaigns for the President’s reelection, with little focus on the elephant in the room that is the woes bedevilling their sectors.

Although the law prohibits State officers from engaging in politics, the CSs have been on overdrive as they rally ODM bases to consider Ruto’s reelection.

While they had been brought on board to help cure the problem of protests and restore faith in the Ruto administration at a time of great economic turmoil, observers believe the government could be back to square one as threats of another round of protests in June gather momentum.

In the last few weeks, Wandayi and Mbadi’s ministries have been the pressure points for the regime as threats of a return to street protests continue to build up, with the United Opposition declaring they will join GenZ’s in June to make the country ungovernable. Interestingly, it is the attempt to forestall such protests that propelled them to the cabinet in 2024 after the bloody Gen-Z protests.

Their allies in ODM, however, have defended their performance and claim they are being targeted unfairly. For the duo, the sharp rise in the prices of fuel has brought them under intense scrutiny.

And instead of offering concrete solutions, the duo are leading the campaigns for Ruto’s reelection on top of cars as Mbadi also begins to build what he describes as a conquest to capture the presidency in 2032.

Both have been fingered for duping Kenyans into believing that the government had enough fuel stocks and sought to downplay a developing crisis that is threatening to crash the country’s economy through a rise in inflation.

Two weeks ago, Mbadi reinforced Wandayi’s claims that the country had enough fuel stocks to last the country for several weeks, by telling the National Assembly’s Finance Committee that pump prices would not skyrocket and were expected to stay the same for at least two months.

He painted a rosy picture of an economy that is on the right track. However, today the trajectory has changed as the government braces for a potential fresh round of protests from a section of Kenyans over the rise in the cost of fuel.

Last weekend, Wandayi claimed the decisions they had made in the sector has saved Kenyans from paying an even higher cost on fuel products.

According to him, the decision to lower VAT from 16 per cent to 8 per cent has saved Kenyans from extreme global price shocks, describing the Sh6.2 billion stabilisation fund from the government as Solomon-like.

“By applying a subsidy from the Petroleum Development Levy, the government has applied Sh6.2 billion to cushion Kenyans,” Wandayi told journalists. Despite the show of bravery and confidence he is showing, some Kenyans and observers believe the sector is almost on its knees.

Wandayi, Joho, Mbadi and Oparanya have shifted their focus to politics. As uncertainties dog the UDA and ODM political arrangement, the so-called broad-based government experts are living in uncertain times.

In the perceived ODM strongholds, they are at the forefront in sounding the need for the Orange party to remain steadfast in the coalition with Ruto. However, both Joho and Mbadi are harbouring interests for the deputy presidency, a development further unsettling a section of the UDA brigade in the government’s fold.

In Nyanza, Mbadi has been likened to a priest due to his love for lacing his political messaging with biblical references. The messaging has been entrenched on rallying residents to back Ruto’s reelection.

He has been loud and keen on the campaign trail. If not beretting youths for demanding handouts, outlaying his own presidential ambitions in 2032 and shouting pro-broad-based government statements, Mbadi is the new Ruto.

Governance expert Dr Davies Okombo, the ODM experts have failed to deliver to the expectations that met their appointments into the cabinet following the political truce between President Ruto and the late ODM leader Raila Odinga.

“The appointment of the experts was met with a lot of expectations due to the poor performance and integrity issues of the pre-Gen Z protests Cabinet. However, the experts appear to underperform in key and strategic areas,” Okombo stated.

He accused the ODM members of the cabinet of allegedly violating the constitution by engaging in politics, including attendance of political events and donning of the political party colours and attire.

“The experts have violated the Constitution by engaging in politics and thus fail integrity tests. The energy crisis has not been adequately addressed, and resignation of energy bosses undermine integrity of the CS. The seeming violation of the law and the Constitution shows the AG’s advice is ignored by public officials,” he noted.

Both Joho and Oparanya have also gone full throttle on politics and amid several political realignments in their backyards. In Coast, for instance, Joho’s allies have prioritised his inclusion as a potential running mate for Ruto in the event of any negotiations with UDA.

This year alone, Joho has held at least nine meetings with leaders from the Coast as he seeks to position himself as a key player in the Ruto-reelection campaign matrix. Consequently, he has steered away from his key mandate as loud silence from his office greets teething problems in the blue economy.

By yesterday, despite spirited calls for state intervention over the detained Kenyan vessel in Tanzania, Joho’s docket was dead silent. But this is just one of the frailties of his docket. The disastrous handling of the attempts to establish a gold mine in Kakamega and Siaya, which has left scores dead and others uncertain over what the future holds, has also raised scrutiny over how the Ministry of Mining is handling the crisis.

Prof XN Iraki, a governance expert and political commentator, opined that the ODM experts are overshadowed by “a very active President” in President William, thus making it difficult to assess their individual success or failures as members of the Kenya Kwanza administration.

“It’s very hard to judge the performance of these experts because they don’t have projects of their own , they run government Projects and programs collectively with the rest of the others, including the President,” he stated.

In Nyanza and Western Kenya, however, a section of residents believes they have failed the region and have not influenced projects being implemented by the president’s regime in the region.

“The projects that are being implemented across the region are the brainchild of the president. Most of them were conceptualised by his allies, led by PS Raymond Omollo,” claims a UDA operative.

According to Prof Charles Nyambuga, a political analyst, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary has been the most consistent in terms of performance of all the “ODM experts”.

Mbadi, he said, has been able to devise alternative ways of raising revenues for development programs of the government, thus reducing the tension between the government and members of the public over taxation.

“Mbadi has tried to stabilise the economy. When he became CS there was a lot of instability as long as the tax regime is concerned and he tried by coming up with alternative ways of raising capital for development in the Country so in a scale of 1-10, I would rate him at 7,” he stated.

He also accused Joho’s ministry of failure to promote local investment in the mining docket.

“There is a lot of foreign investment in our mining sector. The CS has not focused on ensuring that there’s local investment in the mining sector so that means that the proceeds go elsewhere and does not enrich the Country as would be expected,” he said.

For Oparanya, the failure to efficiently manage the hustler fund continues to shadow his performance as Cabinet Secretary for Cooperative Development.

Early this week, Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale cautioned Oparanya against his campaigns for Ruto’s reelection and claimed that the Western region has not benefitted from the government’s projects.