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| (ODM) Secretary General Edwin Sifuna |
Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary General Edwin Sifuna has called for the resignation of party members who have been nominated to President Ruto’s Cabinet.
Speaking on Citizen TV on Thursday, Sifuna said that the four ODM party members had not been recommended by the party for nomination to join Ruto’s broad-based government.
The senator said their nomination does not represent the party’s position in Ruto’s government.
Sifuna said he expects the said members to tender their resignation letters before heading to Parliament for vetting.
“I expect that by the end of the day or before they go for vetting we will receive resignations of these people from their positions in the party. This is my expectation because the law is that they cannot go into Cabinet as parties and members of political parties,” Sifuna said.
Sifuna affirmed that the four names nominated by President William Ruto to Cabinet were not presented by Raila Odinga, noting that Raila is a strong believer in gender equity.
He further noted that ODM is a diverse party hence there is no way Raila could have nominated two people from the same region.
He said the nomination of the four was a decision made between the members and the President himself.
“If Raila Odinga was asked to present names of people who are capable of turning around this country and address the issues that have been raised by Gen Z, the Raila Odinga that I know will not present four names of all men, that one I can tell you for a fact,” Sifuna said.
“In fact, we have a very strong sentiment within the party, even during meetings of the party, if you give three men to speak before a woman speaks you will be in trouble. There is no way Raila presents four names, two from one region in a party as diverse as ODM, I am telling you this is not a decision of Raila Odinga.”
On Wednesday, the President announced the second batch of Cabinet nominees among who four ODM party members were named.
They include John Mbadi, who was nominated to the Treasury, Opiyo Wandayi, to the Energy Ministry, Hassan Joho to the Mining Ministry of Mining and Wycliffe Oparanya to the Ministry of Cooperatives.
On Tuesday, ODM denied reports that it was in talks with President Ruto to form the government of National Unity.
by DANVICTOR MUNENE