The dramatic ouster of Edwin Sifuna from the helm of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) was not a party decision but a "hostile takeover" orchestrated directly from State House, whistleblowers have revealed.

In a bombshell revelation that has shattered the facade of opposition unity, ODM Deputy Party Leader Godfrey Osotsi has exposed a clandestine midnight meeting involving President William Ruto, ODM grandee Oburu Oginga, and Chairperson Gladys Wanga that sealed Sifuna's fate. The removal of the firebrand Secretary-General is not merely an internal restructuring; it is the final act in the co-optation of Kenya’s largest opposition party into the government fold, effectively decapitating the last remaining voice of dissent within the Orange house.

The Midnight Betrayal

According to Osotsi, the script for the coup was written not at Chungwa House, but in the hushed corridors of the President’s official residence. "They went at night," Osotsi charged, invoking a phrase synonymous with political treachery in Kenyan history. The Vihiga Senator detailed a sequence of events where a scheduled National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting, initially set to be postponed, was suddenly fast-tracked following Oburu’s consultation with the Head of State.

The motive is starkly clear. Sifuna has been the most vocal critic of the "broad-based" government deal—a handshake in all but name—that has seen top ODM talent absorbed into the Cabinet. His refusal to toe the line and sanitize the coalition's cozy relationship with the ruling UDA party made him a dangerous obstacle. By removing him, the pro-government faction within ODM has cleared the path for total alignment with the Ruto administration ahead of the 2027 polls.

• The Conspirators: The spotlight is firmly on Oburu Oginga and Gladys Wanga. Once guardians of the Odinga legacy, they are now accused of acting as the President’s proxies, trading the party’s independence for political expediency and executive patronage.
• The "Axis of Evil": Osotsi described the faction engineering the takeover as an "axis of evil" working from within to wreck the party. His refusal to attend the Mombasa NEC meeting legitimizes the narrative that the gathering was a kangaroo court with a predetermined verdict.
• Sifuna’s Last Stand: The ousted Secretary-General remains defiant, maintaining that his removal was unprocedural and illegal. However, with the party machinery now firmly in the grip of the State House-aligned faction, his legal battles may be symbolic at best.

The Death of the Opposition?

The implications of this purge extend far beyond party politics. With ODM effectively neutralized, Kenya enters a precarious phase of de facto one-party rule. The oversight role of the opposition, critical for democratic health, has been traded for a seat at the table. The "broad-based" arrangement, initially sold as a unity government, is revealing its true colors: a strategy of containment and absorption.

As the dust settles on the Mombasa meeting, the message to the rank and file is chillingly efficient: align or perish. For the millions of supporters who looked to ODM as the vanguard of reform, the sight of their leaders plotting with the very government they were elected to check is a bitter pill. The Orange party may still exist on paper, but its soul, it seems, has been sold in a midnight auction at State House.