Heated Debate In Parliament as Millie Odhiambo Demands Respect for Edwin Sifuna From MP Owen Baya

A brief but pointed parliamentary exchange erupted in the National Assembly after Kilifi North Member of Parliament Owen Baya referred to Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna as a "former" Secretary General of ODM, a characterisation that immediately drew a sharp intervention from Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo.

Rising on a point of order, Odhiambo moved swiftly to correct the record, insisting that Sifuna's status within ODM has not been conclusively determined and that referring to him as a former official was both legally inaccurate and disrespectful.

Speaking in her capacity as a human rights defender, the outspoken legislator argued that by law, Sifuna remains the embattled Secretary General of ODM, not the former one, and that the distinction matters enormously in both legal and political terms.

Odhiambo was categorical that Sifuna must be accorded the respect due to his office, regardless of the internal party turbulence surrounding his position.

Her intervention drew attention to the fact that Sifuna's removal from ODM's party leadership structures has not been finalised through a legally conclusive process, meaning that his title as Secretary General however contested — remains his until the matter is formally resolved.

The exchange in Parliament reflects the deepening fault lines within ODM as the party grapples with a bitter internal crisis ahead of the 2027 general election.

Sifuna leads the Linda Mwananchi movement, a faction that has emerged as a vocal and organised opposition to ODM's participation in President William Ruto's broad-based government.

The movement has been sharply critical of the party's decision to align with the Ruto administration, arguing that the arrangement amounts to a betrayal of the opposition's mandate and the millions of Kenyans who voted against the Kenya Kwanza government in 2022.

Baya, on the other hand, is among those aligned with the broad-based government arrangement, making his description of Sifuna as a "former" official a loaded political statement rather than a simple factual error, one that Odhiambo was clearly unwilling to let pass unchallenged on the floor of the House.

The incident underscores just how far ODM's internal divisions have spilled beyond party offices and into the very institutions of the state, with Parliament itself now becoming a stage for proxy battles over the soul of one of Kenya's most consequential political organisations.