The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General Edwin Sifuna has maintained that his outfit has not joined President William Ruto’s government.
Speaking on Thursday, Sifuna said no decision has been made by any party organ approving the joining of President Ruto’s government.
“As secretary-general, I sit in all organs of the party and I am the spokesperson of all those organs. Kenyans just want someone to tell them the truth and there has been a lot of speculation as to the importance of what happened yesterday (Wednesday),” Sifuna said on Citizen TV.
“The truth of the matter is that there is no decision of any organ of ODM that I sit in to join the Ruto government.”
He went on to say that there has been a deliberate effort to paint the ODM party in a bad light since Raila Odinga, the party leader, attended the signing of the IEBC Bill into law at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC).
Sifuna accused the media of misrepresenting the Orange party’s position on the matter.
“I think there has been a deliberate effort to misrepresent the position of the party, especially in the print media,” he added.
“I’m not happy with the way the media has chosen to report the matters that have happened in the past few weeks.”
He said the ODM party has only called for a national conversation but that has been turned to mean a dialogue between ODM and the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
His remarks come even after President Ruto picked ODM deputy party leaders Hassan Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya, chairman John Mbadi, and National Assembly minority leader Opiyo Wandayi to join his Cabinet.
Joho was nominated as CS for Mining, Blue Economy and Maritime affairs, Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives and MSME Development), John Mbadi (National Treasury), and Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum).
The four joined 16 other nominees picked by Ruto even as he reconstituted his cabinet.
Sifuna, however, termed the decision for the four to join Ruto’s cabinet as personal and lacked the blessing of the party.
