In a formal written statement, Sifuna said he was never notified of any allegations, never invited to respond to grievances and was afforded no hearing by any lawful party organ — a sequence he described as a blatant violation of both the ODM constitution and the principles of natural justice.
“Let me state, without fear of contradiction, that this action is illegal, unprocedural, and a blatant violation of the ODM Constitution,” he said.
Nine years of service, one impermissible ‘crime’
Sifuna noted that February marks the start of his ninth year as ODM Secretary General, making him the longest-serving individual in that post. He argued his sole offence was ideological: an uncompromising refusal to support any internal alignment with Ruto.
“My only ‘crime’ is that I oppose any plans and schemes within the party to support President William Ruto’s re-election,” he wrote, adding that Kenya could not afford another five years of what he called an “expensive, divisive, incompetent and disastrous” administration.
— Senator Edwin Sifuna, CBS, MP · ODM Secretary General
A party drifting from its founding principles
Sifuna invoked the legacy of the late ODM founder Raila Odinga repeatedly, arguing the party’s current direction betrays a man who, in his words, “would never have allowed his beloved party to be turned into a mere appendage of State House.”
He pointed to a 3 February gazette notice — released to legitimise recent leadership changes but citing a public comment window that had already expired by three weeks — as evidence of a pattern of procedural shortcuts and what he called a “theatre of the illegal.”
Canaan deferred, but not abandoned
Closing on a note of defiance, Sifuna said the struggle was never about positions but principle — protecting ODM as a democratic institution governed by rules, not impulses.
He appealed to members to remain calm and vigilant, promising to return to the grassroots “bigger and more energised.” “We are the generation that will reach Canaan as envisaged by the late Raila Odinga,” he wrote, “and nothing will distract us from this endeavour.”
