Kisumu woman representative Ruth Odinga has called out the apparent intolerance in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), referencing the hostility with which Siaya governor James Orengo was treated with at a funeral.
On Saturday, May 2, Siaya political leaders gathered at the Ridore Primary School grounds for the funeral service of Seme MP James Nyikal's father, the late Eliud Okaka Nyikal.
The service was going on smoothly until Orengo showed up with his entourage.
A group rose up against them, momentarily interrupting the service.
Despite the clergy's appeals for calm, the disorder went on, until Kisumu governor Anyang Nyong'o broke the protocol to call the groups to order.
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Orengo and his team would later leave, with the service resuming thereafter.
Speaking after the happening, Ruth was concerned that intolerance was becoming a bad culture in ODM.
"A whole governor in Nyanza can be removed and escorted out of the funeral that he should not be in the funeral of one of his colleagues who is an MP. And for why? Because he has a divergent view from those who are sitting there. What is this intolerance in the party of ODM?" she posed.
She condemned the culture of goonism that was becoming the currency of Nyanza politics.
Ruth wondered why a leader would arm themselves with henchmen to intimidate others who hold divergent views.
She expressed her concerns over the ODM party and the larger Luo community being divided, warning that the late Raila Odinga's legacy was being soiled.
"But what is this bigger picture? Why are we being divided as the community of the Luos to the point that he takes another Luo leader to sponsor youth to remove another leader from a function?" she said.
Meanwhile, Orengo accused the government of deliberately engineering the disorder during what was supposed to be a respectful farewell.
"It is both shameful and a national disgrace that a solemn send off could be disrupted by the State and its luckys so rattled by the people’s unity that it resorted to unleashing goons," he declared.
He explained that the disruption grew so severe that religious leaders had to step in, halting the ceremony prematurely to restore calm.
"The situation became so tense that the clergy had to cut the service short, calling for an immediate burial without speeches to preserve order and dignity," he noted.
Orengo also took the opportunity to stand firmly behind the Linda Mwananchi Movement, stressing that intimidation would not derail its cause.
"But let it be clearly understood; no amount of intimidation, no teargas, no hired chaos, and no acts of desperation will silence the Linda Mwananchi Movement. Linda Mwananchi is a force of the people unstoppable, unshaken, and unwavering in its mission to defend and uplift the voice of every Kenyan," he emphasized.
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