NAIVASHA, Kenya Aug 10 – President William Ruto and ODM Party Leader Oburu Oginga have strongly defended the broad-based government arrangement, highlighting the political cooperation between UDA and ODM as the country enters the final year before the 2027 General Election.

📻 Breaking It Down

Speaking during a broad-based parliamentary group retreat in Naivasha attended by hundreds of lawmakers, Ruto and Oburu sought to underscore the basis of the partnership while calling for greater political cohesion among members of the two parties.

Oburu contrasted the current arrangement with the 2018 political handshake between former President Uhuru Kenyatta and the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga, arguing that ODM has secured greater representation in government under the current partnership.

“Before this Broadbased arrangement which was enabled by our beloved fallen Party Leader the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga, we had a handshake government with Pr. Uhuru Kenyatta,” Oburu said.

📌 What You Need to Know

He claimed that during the handshake administration, ODM did not receive Cabinet Secretary or Principal Secretary positions, saying the party was instead promised support for the presidency.

“Uhuru never gave us even a single CS position or even a PS position, the only thing he promised us was the Presidency, which we never got,” Oburu said.

According to Oburu, the current broad-based arrangement has resulted in ODM securing several CS and PS positions in government.

Ruto said his decision to work with ODM followed discussions with the late Raila Odinga after the 2022 General Election.

“Immediately after the last general election, I engaged the Rt. Hon. Raila Odinga on the need of working together, burying our political differences and put Kenya first,” Ruto said.

The President said the partnership was possible because of similarities between the political programmes of UDA and ODM.

📰 Source: Capital FM Kenya