{"id":147186,"date":"2026-07-18T14:02:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/sifuna-shrugs-off-odm-sg-ouster-says-youth-want-him-called-h-e\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T14:02:48","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T14:02:48","slug":"sifuna-shrugs-off-odm-sg-ouster-says-youth-want-him-called-h-e","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/sifuna-shrugs-off-odm-sg-ouster-says-youth-want-him-called-h-e\/","title":{"rendered":"Sifuna Shrugs Off ODM SG Ouster, Says Youth Want Him Called \u2018H.E.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI,Kenya July 17 \u2013 Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has declared that he does not need powerful political positions to serve Kenyans, saying recent leadership shake-ups within the opposition have only strengthened his resolve to remain outspoken.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Speaking during the Linda Mwananchi tour in Mwatate Town, Taita Taveta County, on Saturday, Sifuna said losing positions previously entrusted to him by the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga had not taken away his ability to think, lead or champion the interests of ordinary Kenyans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the senior positions that Baba entrusted me with have been taken away. But let me ask them: Do I still have my ears? Do I still have my head? Do I still have my legs? Have they taken away my mind?\u201d Sifuna told cheering supporters.<\/p>\n

The senator also made light of his changing political fortunes, saying young supporters had encouraged him to stop referring to himself as the ODM Secretary-General because they had a bigger office in mind for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe youth have told me to stop calling myself the Secretary-General; they want to give me another title called \u2018His Excellency,’\u201d he said, drawing laughter from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Sifuna\u2019s remarks come days after he was removed as Senate Deputy Minority Whip in a controversial leadership reshuffle announced by Senate Speaker Amason Kingi. Migori Senator Eddy Oketch was named as his replacement.<\/p>\n

The changes sparked an uproar within the opposition, with the Kalonzo Musyoka-led Azimio coalition rejecting the process that led to Sifuna\u2019s removal and accusing a section of ODM senators of orchestrating the changes through an irregular Parliamentary Group meeting.<\/p>\n

In a letter addressed to Speaker Kingi, the coalition argued that the meeting was convened on short notice without a clear agenda and failed to meet the party\u2019s constitutional threshold for altering Senate leadership. It maintained that only 11 senators supported the purported changes and insisted that disputes relating to coalition leadership must first be handled by the Coalition Council under the coalition agreement.<\/p>\n

Azimio also claimed the reshuffle was influenced by consultations held at State House between President William Ruto and a section of ODM leaders before the Parliamentary Group meeting, an allegation that has further fuelled tensions within the opposition.<\/p>\n

The <\/strong>Linda Mwananchi faction, which has been critical of the broad-based cooperation between President Ruto and sections of the ODM leadership, has maintained that Sifuna\u2019s removal was politically motivated and intended to silence one of the government\u2019s fiercest critics.<\/p>\n

Despite the setback, Sifuna signalled that he has no intention of retreating from active politics, insisting that leadership is defined by ideas and conviction rather than titles.<\/p>\n

His remarks are expected to deepen the growing divisions within ODM as rival factions continue to battle over the party\u2019s future direction ahead of the 2027 General Election.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NAIROBI,Kenya July 17 \u2013 Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has declared that he does not need powerful political positions to serve Kenyans, saying recent leadership shake-ups within the opposition have only strengthened his resolve to remain outspoken. Speaking during the Linda Mwananchi tour in Mwatate Town, Taita Taveta County, on Saturday, Sifuna said losing positions previously […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}