By Anderson Ojwang
The honeymoon is over. The bond that held together the Linda Ground, the Special National Delegates Conference, the confirmation of the interim officials is now a past tense.
The house of Linda Ground built on sand after Raila Amolo Odinga’s death, where he was betrayed while his body was still airborne, removed him from the party leadership, bypassed his choice, Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o, and landed on his elder brother, Dr Oburu Oginga, as a stopgap and temporary transition measure, is about to crumble.
The marriage of convenience is fast crumbling after deep-seated suspicion, power games, age-long political rivalry and hatred among some of the top officials are threatening to tear apart the faction.
Oburu a pawn in the game
Tunataka Pawa, Weka Mawe, found himself inheriting his brother’s seat even before his body arrived in the country in a well-calculated political move.
Dr Oburu said he was not aware of the appointment until Raila’s trusted ally Junet Mohammed informed him at the airport of the move. In a gullible move, Oburu accepted the appointment. The script played out as it had been preprogrammed.
The choice of Oburu was meant to lock out Nyong’o, whom Raila had settled on during his AU chairman campaigns. Reason: Nyong’o is an independent-minded person and will not tolerate the power game. The move was to remove Nyong’o from the seat of power and ensure Siaya Governor James Orengo doesn’t ascend to the seat.
In Oburu, as a pawn, the team has moved to institute a move to remove Raila’s militant wing and Secretary General Edwin Sifuna to allow easy takeover of the party.
Kisumu County where the Linda Ground power game is played
Kisumu County is where the Linda Ground power game is at play. This was witnessed during the branch party election. At the branch party election, the party chairperson Gladys Wanga had her lineup, led by Milimani Ward MCA Seth Kanga alias Adui Nyang and her brother Robert Nyasuna, who is eyeing Muhoroni constituency.
The casualties in this arrangement were Muhoroni MP Onyango Koyoo and his Nyando counterpart Jared Okello, and Oburu himself who had fronted the incumbent Paul Akeyo.
Oburu upstaged Wanga at the branch election by the National Election Coordination Committee to cancel the elections over what he termed prevailing polarization informed by intelligence.
Oburu wrote to the National Chairperson Emily Awinja to postpone the election over what he termed a prevailing polarized environment informed by intelligence.
He wrote: “Following the prevailing polarized environment informed by intelligence, I have made a decision to inform you to cancel the elections slated for tomorrow Friday 6th 2026. Kindly comply and inform the concerned parties,” signed by Dr Oburu Oginga.
Wanga and Kisumu Women Rep Rosa Buyu were supporting Seth Ochieng Kanga alias Adui Nyang against the delegates’ favorite, Thomas Opande.
Recently, the branch agreed on a consensus with Akeyo elected as the chairperson with Adui as the vice chair, while Opande was elected as the secretary general.
But during the SDC, Wanga and Buyu upstaged Oburu as the list of delegates to the function was made up of their supporters.
“Most of the genuine ODM delegates did not attend the SDC. Most of those you saw from Kisumu County were actually supporters of Wanga and Buyu. If you want to confirm, ask the party to show you the list of delegates they paid from Kisumu and the party delegates list from each sub-county,” said sources within the party.
The Kawuor declaration
Stung by moves to render Oburu irrelevant in the ODM power matrix ahead of the SDC, the Kawuor family gathered in Kango ka Jaramogi to hand over the instrument of power of the family to Dr Oburu.
The feuding family, which has witnessed Kisumu Women Representative Ruth Odinga and Winnie Odinga take a different political trajectory, returned to support the brother and stop the party from slipping away from the hands of the Odingas.
Oburu described the event as “history written today,” expressing deep honor at receiving the ancestral blessing.
“This sacred, traditional endorsement is far more than a family milestone; it is a profound signal of continuity, wisdom, and the enduring legacy of the Oginga and Odinga lineage in Kenya’s democratic journey,” he said in a post on X.
Winnie Odinga Deputy party leader charade
In the Linda Ground battle, a move to block Winnie from ascending to a powerful party position was aimed at isolating Oburu and making him a lone ranger in the wider political mechanization.
Ahead of the SDC, the Nairobi branch had proposed Winnie for appointment as deputy party leader but this was scuttled.
Deputy Party Leader Abdulsamad Nassir at a press conference ahead of the SDC said there was a possibility for a consideration for Winnie to be made as one of the deputy party leaders.
He said a proposal had been made by the Nairobi branch and the SNDC could consider it after the party leader Dr Oburu Oginga’s position had been ratified by the delegates at the convention.
“Winnie qualifies to be deputy party leader. There is a proposition which has been done by delegates in Nairobi. In this SNDC, the agenda has been published but in the same way we got into office,” he said.
But Wanga said at the same interview that the SNDC was called for the purpose of ratification of the officials, and they will have an ordinary NDC at the end of every fifth year to elect new officials.
Winnie is feared because she may oppose and even challenge to take over the party leadership and edge out the suitors.
The Oburu Chief of Staff
Dr Oburu shocked many when he settled on Michael Agwanda, a close family friend, against the various senior former and current high-ranking government officials who had been proposed to him by some of the top officials in the party.
The proposal was meant to cage and control Oburu’s political move and keep him in check. Already, some quarters had wanted him to remove his son Elijah Oburu from his post of personal assistant. But Oburu and Elijah rebuffed the move.
The appointment of Agwanda has complicated the arithmetic and that is why Rangwe MP Lilian Gogo, at the funeral of the brother of ODM Executive Director Oduor Ongwen, and in the presence of Wanga, demanded the sacking of the Chief of Staff.
“That show cause letter. I want it to be given to a son of Homa Bay. I don’t know whether he has gone? We can give the show cause letter. How can one represent the party leader as Chief of Staff while the MPs are here? How do you go to a function where the party chairperson is in attendance and you come here saying you want to represent the party leader? If it is for the joke, we will remove you from that office. I, Dr Lilian Achieng Gogo, have said it. We will remove you,” she said.
The honeymoon is over. Will Oburu continue to play as pawn or the king? Will Winnie eventually wriggle her way into the ODM leadership?
With Linda Mwananchi gaining traction and Linda Ground engaging in infighting and power struggle, will the faction survive the test of time?
