Sifuna's New Party Launch Exposes How Far the Opposition Has Splintered

Sunday's unveiling of The Equitable Party as Edwin Sifuna's vehicle for 2027 wasn't just a campaign launch, it was a visible marker of how fractured Kenya's opposition has become, with yet another prominent figure choosing to build outside ODM rather than fight for a place within it.

The roll call of leaders who showed up tells its own story. Trans Nzoia Governor George Natembeya, Siaya Governor James Orengo, Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi, and Kisii Senator Richard Onyonka all stood behind Sifuna at the launch, each a significant regional power broker in their own right. Their presence signals that Sifuna's break from ODM isn't just a personal dispute, it's drawing in a meaningful slice of the party's own base and allied figures into a competing formation.

That break was formalised months earlier, when the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal upheld Sifuna's removal as ODM secretary-general, dismissing his third and final challenge against the decision. The tribunal found ODM's National Executive Committee had acted within its rights and had given Sifuna a fair chance to defend himself. For Sifuna, the ruling closed the door on any return to ODM's internal structures and effectively forced the question of what came next.

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino, addressing the crowd on Sunday, reframed that defeat as the origin story of a presidential run. "Sifuna didn't want to leave ODM. Let me tell you, his loyalty was in ODM," Babu said, before urging Sifuna to let go of any resentment toward the party's leadership. "I want you to forgive the ODM leadership, because they have made us be where we are today... Were it not for them, we would not be here today. We would not be talking about the presidency."

Whatever the framing, the practical effect is the same: ODM now has a direct, organised rival drawing support from sitting governors and senators who were, until recently, part of its own coalition. With TEP formally naming Sifuna as its preferred presidential candidate and party leader, the Linda Mwananchi Movement now has the one thing it previously lacked, a registered political vehicle, and with it, a credible claim to being a genuine contender in the opposition's race to find a single candidate against President Ruto.

The bigger question the launch raises isn't really about Sifuna and ODM's past. It's whether an opposition this fragmented, now split across ODM, Jubilee, DCP, Wiper, and TEP, can still produce the single unified challenger that leaders on all sides claim to want ahead of 2027.

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