In the turbulent arena of Kenyan opposition politics, few figures have emerged with as much speed, financial credibility and ideological sharpness as Caroli Omondi. The Suba South member of parliament, once a quiet technocrat operating in the corridors of government, has stepped boldly into the spotlight, and the country is watching.
Who is Caroli Omondi?
Born in 1960, Omondi is a trained lawyer and advocate whose political career took root not through grassroots mobilisation, but through institutional proximity to power. He served as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Prime Minister under the late Raila Odinga from 2008 to 2013, a period that coincided with Kenya’s grand coalition government following the disputed 2007 election.
In that role, Omondi worked at the nerve centre of the country’s political and legislative machinery, advising on policy, intergovernmental coordination and party strategy. It was an education in real power.
He made his first bid for elective office in the August 2022 general election, winning the Suba South parliamentary seat in Homa Bay County on an Orange Democratic Movement ticket. But almost from the outset, Omondi refused to be a quiet backbencher. He has since been named secretary-general of the Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition, a role that amplifies his reach well beyond his constituency.
The financial muscle behind the movement
Those disclosures, made during a televised debate on Citizen TV‘s JKLive on 18 February 2026, rattled political circles. Omondi said that during the 2013 general election — when Odinga made his third presidential run ,he personally pumped between 600 million and 700 million shillings into the ODM campaign.
That contribution, combining branded vehicles, campaign merchandise, candidate stipends and agent payments, underscores a level of financial muscle rarely seen in Kenya’s opposition politics and reframes who Omondi really is: not just a legislator, but a political investor of considerable means.
He added that in 2017, after ODM denied him a party ticket to contest the Suba South seat, a decision he attributed to interference from then-party Chairman John Mbadi — he withheld a planned donation of $2 million.
“In 2017, I refused to give them money after they denied me the certificate,” he told Capital FM. “In 2022, I didn’t give them any money.” The political rivalry between Omondi and Mbadi — at the time both connected to Orange House, the building that housed ODM’s headquarters — was widely described as a fight between landlord and tenant.
Those grievances have not disappeared. They have, instead, fermented into something far larger.
Caroli Omondi and the Linda Mwananchi camp
Today, Omondi is firmly aligned with the Linda Mwananchi movement — a restive faction within ODM led by Nairobi Sen. Edwin Sifuna and including Embakasi East Rep. Babu Owino, Siaya Gov. James Orengo and Vihiga Sen. Godfrey Osotsi. The group has held massive rallies in Busia, Kitengela and Kakamega, drawing large crowds in what has become a visible contest for the soul of Kenya’s largest opposition party. The Kitengela rally of Feb. 15, 2026, was disrupted by police tear gas and drew national and international attention.
The rival faction, Linda Ground, is led by Oburu Oginga, Raila Odinga’s brother, who was installed as ODM party leader following Odinga’s death in October 2025. Omondi has challenged that transition as constitutionally flawed. Speaking on JKLive, he argued that ODM’s own constitution requires a sitting deputy party leader to assume the role in an acting capacity whenever the top seat falls vacant — a provision he says was bypassed when Oburu, who held no formal party office at the time, was elevated to the leadership.
A force to reckon with ahead of 2027
The political arithmetic Omondi is presenting is provocative. He has publicly stated that the Linda Mwananchi coalition could mobilise up to 16 million votes — combining ODM’s traditional base, disaffected youth and new Gen Z voters who poured into the streets during Kenya’s 2024 anti-government protests. If that projection holds even partially, it represents a serious counterweight to both President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza alliance and any reconstituted ODM structure ahead of the 2027 general election.
Critics, including Mumias East Rep. Peter Salasya, have alleged that the Linda Mwananchi rallies are covertly financed by Ruto’s government. Omondi and Sifuna have categorically denied that claim. Separately, the Linda Ground faction has accused former President Uhuru Kenyatta of bankrolling the Linda Mwananchi campaign, a charge Kenyatta has not publicly addressed. Former Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission Commissioner Roselyn Akombe has also dismissed the movement as theatrical. But the crowds tell a different story. In Kitengela alone, thousands turned out despite a police presence and tear gas.
Why Omondi matters beyond the noise
What makes Omondi particularly significant is not just his political positioning — it is a rare combination of insider knowledge, financial independence and willingness to publicly name the forces he believes are corrupting ODM’s internal democracy. His claim that “external forces” gave instructions that ultimately led to Secretary-General Sifuna’s suspension — allegedly overriding an initial stalemate during a Mombasa party meeting — is the kind of allegation that, whether proven or not, reshapes public trust in an institution already under strain.
Omondi has also confirmed he will not seek re-election on an ODM ticket, a declaration that paradoxically liberates him from party discipline while amplifying his authority as a critic. Without the leverage of a future ODM nomination over his head, he can speak and fund freely — and that freedom, in Kenya’s transactional political culture, is itself a form of power.
Whether Caroli Omondi becomes a decisive force in Kenya’s 2027 electoral contest remains to be seen. But the elements are converging: financial credibility, institutional memory, ideological clarity and a grassroots movement hungry for alternatives. In a country where opposition politics has long been dominated by personalities rather than platforms, Omondi’s emergence signals something rarer — a politician who knows where the money comes from because, for years, it came from him.
