NAIROBI, Kenya, July 19 – The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has elevated Vihiga Governor Wilber Ottichilo to the position of county patron in a fresh restructuring that has seen Senator Godfrey Osotsi edged out of the influential role, as the party presses ahead with efforts to reorganise its leadership ahead of the 2027 elections.
The appointment was unveiled during a meeting of ODM delegates in Vihiga County, where party officials defended the changes as part of a broader strategy to revitalise the party’s grassroots machinery.
Leaders at the meeting said the reorganisation was informed by the need to place committed officials at the forefront of the party’s activities, arguing that some office holders had failed to effectively advance ODM’s agenda at the county level.
Speaking after taking up the new role, Ottichilo said the party had experienced a prolonged period of uncertainty and internal disagreements that had weakened its operations in the county.
“In the past few months, the party has not had a proper direction. There have been divisions among the leadership,” he said.
“It is good that ODM is putting in place a leadership that will move the party forward.”
Although the party presented the changes as an administrative exercise, they come amid a widening ideological contest within ODM over the direction of its national politics.
Osotsi has been identified with the Linda Mwananchi Movement, a bloc associated with Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna that has resisted ODM’s growing collaboration with President William Ruto’s Kenya Kwanza administration.
The group has insisted that ODM should retain its watchdog role by speaking out on issues such as the rising cost of living, governance, public accountability and government performance, rather than becoming too closely aligned with the ruling coalition.
That approach has increasingly contrasted with the position taken by another camp within the party, led by National Chairperson Gladys Wanga, Siaya Senator Oburu Oginga and National Assembly Minority Leader Junet Mohamed, who have openly embraced closer cooperation with the United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
The two parties are currently engaged in talks aimed at formalising their political partnership before the 2027 General Election, building on the broad-based arrangement that has seen ODM leaders work alongside the Kenya Kwanza administration on several legislative and governance matters.
Ottichilo’s appointment adds to a growing list of leadership changes involving figures perceived to be sympathetic to the Linda Mwananchi Movement. In recent weeks, Sifuna was stripped of his position as ODM Secretary-General before later losing his role as Senate Deputy Minority Whip, developments that fuelled claims of an internal effort to sideline leaders opposed to the party’s warming ties with UDA.
