Suba North MP and Minority Whip at the National Assembly Millie Odhiambo has said that the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party is not part of the government.
The MP said that while ODM members may be working with the government, that does not amount to them being part of the government.
“It is a legal fact that ODM is not part of the government. We may be cooperating, but we are not in the government,” she said.
“When people say ODM is in the broad-based government, I say no. We are working with the government but are not legally in government. We are not in any coalition agreement with the government. That is the reality.”
She made the remarks during an interview with NTV on Wednesday.
When the panel likened the situation to a "potato, potahto" scenario, Odhiambo rejected the analogy, affirming that, from a legal perspective, the issue could not be viewed as such.
The "potato, potahto" phrase is often used to suggest that two things, though seemingly different, are essentially the same.
She clarified that such a situation would only apply if as a member of the opposition she aligned herself with the ruling party.
“A potato, potahto situation would apply if I, as a member of ODM, talked as if I was a member of UDA,” she said.
The broad-based government was formed in July 2024 after weeks of deadly anti-government protests sparked by an unpopular tax bill in June.
President William Ruto promised to create a government that would harness the country's potential to drive economic transformation and inclusive growth.
In line with this, Ruto appointed several ODM members to his Cabinet, including Hassan Joho (Mining and Blue Economy), Wycliffe Oparanya (Cooperatives and MSME Development), John Mbadi (National Treasury), and Opiyo Wandayi (Energy and Petroleum).
Despite their appointments, some ODM officials have consistently maintained that the ODM members have not joined the Kenya Kwanza government.
“We have released the four officials to work with the government. Let it be known that we do not have any formal agreement with the government. If they help the government in running the country, we cannot stop them,” he said then.
He further clarified that ODM remains in opposition, a member of the Azimio la Umoja coalition, and has not signed any working agreement with Kenya Kwanza.
“The government showed interest in working with our members, and we released them to help run the country. But the Orange Party is still in opposition,” Raila added.
