NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 5 — The Wiper Patriotic Front has distanced its leader from a misinformation campaign concerning ODM leader Raila Odinga’s health, accusing ODM of using the claims to divert public attention from its failures.
Wiper Secretary General Shakila Aballa termed accusations as “political theatre” and “an act of desperation from a once-respected movement that has lost both its moral compass and political relevance.”
“We categorically deny any participation in spreading false health narratives about Raila Odinga,” Aballa responded on Sunday in defense of Kalonzo Musyoka.
“Any suggestion that H.E. Kalonzo Musyoka wishes harm upon Raila is malicious, reckless, and utterly false.”
The Wiper Party dismissed ODM’s attempt to link Musyoka to what it termed “imagined misinformation” about Odinga’s health, stressing that the two leaders share a long public history of cooperation and mutual respect.
The party further accused ODM of hypocrisy, saying it had “found comfort in the pits of hell with a regime that butchered young people during the Gen Z protests and continues to abduct online critics in the dead of night.”
‘Despotism’
Wiper also distanced Musyoka from Odinga’s failed bid for the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairmanship, blaming the loss on what it called “diplomatic blunders” by the Ruto administration — which ODM now supports under the Broad-Based Government framework.
“ODM’s latest statement is not about Raila’s health; it is about their guilt, their fear, and their desperate attempt to justify a political marriage stinking of despotism,” the statement added.
The Raila Odinga Secretariat had issued a statement on Sunday dismissing reports that the ODM leader was unwell, accusing politicians opposed to President William Ruto of spreading falsehoods about his health.
Odinga’s Press Secretary, Dennis Onyango, claimed the smear campaign was orchestrated by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua, Kalonzo Musyoka, and DAP–K leader Eugene Wamalwa, alleging that the trio had “co-opted sections of the media” to circulate fake, AI-generated reports.
Onyango affirmed that Odinga is in good health and had only travelled abroad for routine engagements, not medical treatment, adding that the ODM leader “remains steadfast in his belief that extreme threats to the nation require extreme compromises in the interest of unity.”
