Azimio’s Dramatic Turnabout on the Highly Anticipated Meeting

The One Kenya Alliance, Azimio la Umoja, has postponed its scheduled meeting set for January 25, 2024, to decide its fate. This move comes amidst reported political disagreements among its leaders regarding the 2027 general elections.

The alliance had planned to convene on Thursday to assess issues related to the credibility of its members, resolve conflicts among affiliate parties, and address differences arising from the Bomas Committee report.

The contentious issue primarily revolves around determining the flagbearer for Azimio in the 2027 elections, sparking tensions within the coalition. Raila Odinga, however, dismissed claims of internal division within Azimio on Monday, asserting that they would continue to fight for the rights of Kenyans.

The former Prime Minister, despite public disagreements, particularly regarding the National Accord Development Coalition (NADCO) report, stated that the alliance remained strong, with its leadership focused on defending the common citizen. Odinga made these remarks during an event to register ODM members in Lamu County.

On Wednesday, the National Coordinating Executive Council (NCEC) of Azimio, led by its chairman Wycliffe Oparanya, announced the postponement of the planned meeting. Meanwhile, ODM is actively registering new members to boost its presence in coastal counties.

“We have postponed the meeting scheduled to take place because of the ongoing member registration process that we are currently undertaking. The schedules of these two events have clashed, and we will announce a new date for the meeting,” stated Oparanya.

The former governor, also the deputy leader of ODM, expressed readiness for discussions aimed at resolving some of the contentious issues within Azimio.

However, Ishmael Oyoo, the Secretary-General of the National Liberal Party, lamented that Oparanya and ODM had unilaterally decided to postpone the meeting without involving affiliate parties.

“This is dictatorship perpetuated by ODM within Azimio. It seems like ODM is Azimio, and Azimio is ODM. Why is ODM insisting on postponing this crucial meeting without involving affiliate parties?”

“It is disheartening that they took this action just because they are advancing their own member registration. Today’s meeting was also supposed to be used to fill positions left by some politicians who defected to Kenya Kwanza, such as Sabina Chege and Adan Keynan from Jubilee.”

“ODM has been displaying disregard for smaller parties despite them coming to us and asking for our support in 2022. We will not tolerate ODM’s dictatorship,” added Oyoo.

The meeting was initially scheduled to be held at the headquarters of Azimio in Lang’ata South, Nairobi, starting at 12:30 PM, according to a letter Oparanya wrote to affiliate parties.