Suba North Member of Parliament (MP) Millie Odhiambo has argued that the Odinga family still needs time to grieve the loss of Raila Odinga and cannot meet the demands of Kenyans regarding ODM’s political future.
Millie opined that Raila’s daughter Winnie should receive time to mourn her father as people are also positioning her to fill his enormous shoes.
“We want to make the Odingas superhuman. Winnie is a young girl who has lost her father, whom she adored. Grief of a person you loved is deep,” Millie said on NTV’s Fixing the Nation programme.
MP Millie added that Winnie is also trying to navigate the complex political landscape of ODM, which now faces dissenting voices among some of its members and pressure on Odinga’s elder brother Oburu Oginga, 82, whom members elected as the new party leader.
“She is worried that people might challenge his authority because she thinks that maybe we are rushing things, but she supports the positioning. She is just like we should have properly validated, so it does not look like it is an imposition, the Odingas are taking over.”
The Suba North MP, however, admitted that Odinga’s death has left a vacuum that cannot be filled quickly, noting that the party will strive to reshape itself politically before regaining prominence.
“And not just ODM, a lot of people who believe in justice, democracy and the values that Baba believed in feel orphaned because he has been consistent over the years. There is going to be a bit of a bumpy ride, and so it is normal,” she added.
She said that finding Odinga’s successor, one with equal political influence and charisma, can only happen with time, despite the existence of worthy candidates who grew under the premier’s tutelage.
Some of them include Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Shariff, Mining Cabinet Secretaries Hassan Joho (Mining) and John Mbadi (Treasury), Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino.
“He groomed very many capable people. The mistake we are doing is looking for a Baba in each of us. Just look for somebody who can be good in their own right. They are all capable but the chips will fall in place or what we say in Luo, Juogi will speak,” she said.
Millie presented Senator Sifuna as an example, noting that he cannot campaign under the broad-based agenda in a metropolis like Nairobi and will have to devise a fresh, all-inclusive tactic to gain dominance on the campaign trail.
“In politics people look out for their own interests. Their reality is that Nairobi is a very different scenario. In Suba North they will accept Baba said we are in broad-based until 2027, but if Sifuna goes to Nairobi and pushes that agenda, he is in trouble,” she noted.
The post Millie Odhiambo Urges Kenyans to Let the Odinga Family Grieve Before Demanding ODM Direction appeared first on Nairobi Wire.
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