The Lower Eastern Times Opening The Third Eye
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Tensions within the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) have spilled into the open after senior party figures exchanged sharp accusations over the use of campaign funds during Raila Odinga’s unsuccessful 2022 presidential run, exposing deep divisions that have intensified since Raila’s death in 2025.
The bitter exchange pits ODM Secretary General and Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna against the party’s Director of Elections and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed. Their war of words has also drawn former President Uhuru Kenyatta and his family into the controversy, reviving lingering questions about what went wrong in the 2022 election.
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Speaking on Saturday at the burial of Embakasi North MP James Gakuya’s mother, Sifuna launched a scathing attack on Junet, accusing him of double standards and of misappropriating funds donated by Uhuru to support Raila’s campaign.
Sifuna told mourners that Raila achieved his strongest-ever performance in the Mt Kenya region in 2022, winning more than one million votes, a success he attributed largely to Uhuru’s support. He openly thanked the former president for financing the campaign, saying a significant portion of ODM’s campaign resources came directly from Uhuru.
He accused Junet of now portraying Uhuru’s money as questionable, despite having benefited from it at the time. Sifuna alleged that some of the funds were never remitted to the party and were instead misused.
Going further, Sifuna claimed Junet failed to pay election agents, leading to Raila’s loss in key battleground areas. He alleged that agents were abandoned on election day, allowing opponents to secure easy victories, and argued that ODM would be in government today were it not for Junet’s actions.
The Nairobi senator also brushed off any suggestion that he could face disciplinary action, maintaining that ODM’s official position remains that Raila never endorsed President William Ruto for the 2027 election.
Junet responded swiftly with an equally hard-hitting rebuttal, shifting blame to Uhuru’s inner circle and partially to Sifuna himself. In a statement shared on social media, Junet accused Sifuna of secretly working for Uhuru within ODM and dismissed claims that he was responsible for the failure to deploy or pay election agents.
According to Junet, the money meant for agents was allegedly handed by Uhuru to his brother, Muhoho Kenyatta, who then tasked an individual identified as Peter Mburu with overseeing recruitment and payments. Junet claimed Mburu presented himself as an IT expert capable of safeguarding the vote against manipulation by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC), but ultimately no agents were hired—neither in Mt Kenya nor in Raila’s stronghold of Luo Nyanza.
He further alleged that Muhoho operated from a highly restricted office in Westlands, so tightly controlled that even Raila himself had limited access, and that key campaign logistics and agent payments were coordinated from there.
Rejecting accusations of betrayal, Junet argued that Raila would not have appointed him Leader of Minority in the National Assembly had he lost the late ODM leader’s trust. He challenged Uhuru and Muhoho Kenyatta to publicly refute his claims, insisting that once they took over, no agents were secured for Raila’s campaign.
Junet also pointed to Mburu’s continued closeness to Uhuru, noting his recent trip to Nigeria with Uhuru and Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka as proof of his ongoing role in the former president’s political network.
Calling for accountability, Junet urged Uhuru Kenyatta, Muhoho Kenyatta, Peter Mburu, and Edwin Sifuna to come clean, arguing that Kenyans deserve clarity on who controlled, mishandled, or benefited from the agents’ funds.
The very public fallout has exposed the scale of ODM’s internal turmoil in the post-Raila era. Once unified under the authority of its founder, the party is now struggling with leadership rivalries, unresolved fallout from the 2022 election, and competing power blocs increasingly willing to air their disputes in public.
