The Orange Democratic Party is warming up to field a Presidential candidate in the 2027 elections to face-off with President Ruto.
Even though ODM leader Raila Odinga is currently in government courtesy of a broad-based arrangement, all signs are already clear he could leave before the general elections.
The broad-based union between ODM and UDA was supposed to cure some problems in the country including abductions and economic challenges but this appears to have flopped.
And now some ODM leaders have started criticising the Raila-Ruto union citing that the marriage has failed.
This has been compounded by the killing of over 70 Kenyans between December 2024 and June 2025 during GenZ anniversary, Albert Ojwang demos and the Saba-saba day on July 7, 2025.
Recently, ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna said the best way to prove that Ruto-Raila union is worth the salt will be in 2027.
According to Sifuna who is also Nairobi Senator, Ruto should step down for Raila in 2027 so as to lead for five years and hand over the Presidency back to President Ruto.
“The only way to prove that broad-based is working is for Ruto to step down for Raila to in 2027,” Sifuna said
“At the moment, the agreement that we signed with UDA has failed because the killings and abductions have not stopped yet the union was supposed to cure such problems,” he added
Some experts have however faulted Raila-Ruto union citing that the protests witnessed in June 2024 by GenZ was not about sharing positions but to address some challenges in the country including corruption and wastage of public resources.
“Ruto thought by bringing Raila in government, his problems will be solved but it has dawned on him that he missed the point,” political analyst Martin Ochieng explained.
He added that, “Even appointing Raila allies did not change the situation because they are yet to defend him as he expected. Another mistake that Ruto made was firing the cabinet in 2024 and promising to start a fresh but it was just meant to hoodwink the GenZ and Kenyans at large,”
Some ODM MPs also feel that the best option to redeem the party is to quit the broad-based government and push Raila to vie for Presidency in 2027.
Caleb Hamisi, Saboti MP who is an ODM diehard for instance has been on the forefront in criticizing the Kenya Kwanza government with social media.
Recently the Mp asked President Ruto to apologise to the nation over the killing of Kenyans during Saba-Saba, particularly that of a 12-year-old girl who was shot dead in Kiambu County.
Hamisi said he was struggling to understand how the young school going girl can be a goon, a thug or a looter to deserve to be a victim of shoot to kill orders.
He added that If it was a mistaken identity or stray bullet, a good president of a nation will pause and apologise to the nation on behalf of his officers and take immediate action to punish the culprits.
“Which kind of leaders are these Kenya Kwanza, even a female minister can not feel the pain of a mother and apologise on behalf of government, this hurts deeply, In 2027, in all positions, let us elect living things with heart of humanity bwana,” Hamisi posted
