NAIROBI, Kenya- National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetang’ula has urged the ODM leadership to urgently end the party’s internal wrangles, saying unity is critical if the party is to honour the legacy of the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga and effectively play its role in the broad-based government he helped to craft.
Wetang’ula warned that the infighting threatens to tear apart a political movement built on immense sacrifice and which Raila dedicated his life to building as a vehicle for national transformation.
“What we are seeing in ODM is not good for a party that has been the pillar of the Opposition. The sooner the top leadership ends these wrangles the better,” he said.
He described Raila as a peacemaker who valued unity even during intense political competition.
He recalled moments when the former Prime Minister reached out to reconcile differences.
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“Raila was a peacemaker. Even when we differed politically, he would call me during an Arsenal match and invite me to watch as we made peace. ODM should learn from him,” Wetang’ula said.
He noted that the majority of ODM members were calling for a ceasefire within the party in honour of Raila’s legacy.
“I worked with Raila in the Opposition and he was deeply passionate about ODM. He never allowed wrangles and never advocated division at any level,” he said.
The Speaker was speaking after opening the Nambale Urban Primary and Junior Secondary School in Busia County, a project co-funded by the Safaricom M-Pesa Foundation and the local NG-CDF.
He said ODM could only truly honour Raila’s legacy by remaining united and rallying behind the broad-based government he helped to craft in the interest of national stability and cohesion.
At the same event, Teso North MP Oku Kaunya called for respect for Acting ODM Party Leader Senator Oburu Odinga.
Today, I called on the ODM leadership to urgently end the internal wrangles that threaten to tear apart the party that the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga sacrificed so much to build as a vehicle for national transformation.While addressing residents at the official
He said the party had given him the mandate to negotiate and seal a deal with President William Ruto on the formation of the next government in which ODM would have a stake.
On the same occasion, Wetang’ula led five Members of Parliament in supporting President Ruto’s directive allowing Grade 10 students to be admitted to school without the full set of requirements.
The MPs said the directive offered critical relief to parents from poor and vulnerable backgrounds and would help achieve 100 per cent transition to Grade 10.
Those who backed the directive were Innocent Mugabe (Likuyani), Martin Pepela (Webuye East), Didmus Barasa (Kimilili), Oku Kaunya (Teso North) and host MP Geoffrey Mulanya.
President Ruto’s aide Farouk Kibet said headteachers who would ignore the president’s directive should be punished.
“The government has plans for the eligible grade 10 students from poor families. They should be allowed in school. It is inhuman to chase away duch a student because of a school uniform,” he noted
The leaders accused some headteachers of frustrating government efforts by sending away students from poor families.
“Local administrators must implement the President’s directive because they live with these students from vulnerable backgrounds,” Wetang’ula said.
Pepela said it was wrong to deny students from poor families a chance to join schools they had already been enrolled in.
Mugabe said many parents had been seeking assistance to have their children admitted, noting that the President’s directive was timely and necessary.
Wetang’ula also took strong exception to former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s call for national schools in the Central region to be reserved for local students.
He warned that such remarks promoted tribalism and portrayed narrow selfish political interests.
The Speaker urged the Ministry of Education to ignore the sentiments, noting that national schools were built using taxpayers’ money and symbolised national unity and must therefore admit students from all parts of the country.
He appealed to the Luhya community to unite behind President Ruto, saying this was the most strategic path to national leadership at the end of the President’s second term.
Wetang’ula also urged residents in border areas to take advantage of relaxed national identity card regulations to acquire the documents and register as voters.
