Babu's position exposes a delicate balancing act within the opposition movement, which is attempting to project unity around Sifuna.

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 15 – The political party question has emerged as a potentially dangerous wedge in the fledgling Linda Mwananchi alliance, with Embakasi East MP Babu Owino making it clear that he is not ready to surrender his own political vehicle for the sake of a single united party.

Owino, while reaffirming his support for Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna’s presidential bid, has revealed that he had already secured a political party before Linda Mwananchi was formed and intends to retain it as he pursues the Nairobi governorship in 2027.

His position exposes a delicate balancing act within the opposition movement, which is attempting to project unity around Sifuna while its leading figures retain separate political ambitions and party interests.

While coalitions have dominantly characterized politics in the country, the Linda Mwananchi team has consistently projected a picture of a single political outfit.

The dispute has remained largely behind the scenes, but Owino’s detailed account of his negotiations with Sifuna offers the clearest indication yet that there has been a disagreement over which party should carry the movement into the 2027 elections.

Owino disclosed on Tuesday that he met Sifuna at his office to discuss the competing party options after another principal introduced the Ukombozi People’s Party as a possible vehicle for Linda Mwananchi.

“I called Hon Sifuna. We met in his office. I asked him about the Ukombozi People’s Party because they said that the Ukombozi People’s Party, Sifuna, should be the party,” Owino said.

He said he also raised the question of his own party and asked Sifuna which political vehicle the movement would ultimately use.

According to Owino, Sifuna initially assured him that the two could retain their respective parties while working together under a coalition arrangement.

“He was clear with me, told me that there is no problem, Babu, so that he gets the position of the party leader, the party leadership, and also Babu Owino becomes also a party leader of his party,” he said.

Owino was emphatic that his party did not emerge because of Linda Mwananchi. He said he began pursuing his own political vehicle after deciding that he could no longer depend on ODM to secure his ambition to become Nairobi governor.

He traced the decision to February 10, 2025, when ODM leaders and Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja held a meeting at Bomas of Kenya that was widely seen as an endorsement of Sakaja.

Owino said he had expected the gathering to be a prayer meeting linked to the Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Africa Union Chairperson ambitions, only to discover that Sakaja was being backed for another term.

“That is the day that I knew that things would never be the same again in ODM,” he said.