By Anderson Ojwang
Currently, the country is witnessing a new political excitement and a wave in the making. The excitement and the wave in the making could be linked to the old age prophesy by the Luhya Prophet Elijah Masinde wa Nameme of Dini Ya Msambwa.
In his prophesy, he said the Luhya leadership would come through Lake Victoria, specifically the Luo community.
Currently, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna is creating a storm and a wave in the country’s political landscape, and his emergence is causing panic within the ruling coalition and the united opposition.
The developing wave and mantra Mimi Ndio Sifuna, wewe ni nani, Mimi ni Sifuna, after he was sacked by the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) National Governing Council (NEC) as the Secretary General, created a political rapture.
Sifuna got a court reprieve and remains the ODM Secretary General but currently leads a faction, Linda Mwanainchi, which is fast gaining traction against the Linda Ground of the party leader Dr Oburu Oginga.
Prophet Masinde prophesy gets credence in Nyong’o’s choice of SG
In line with Prophet Masinde’s prophesy, Kisumu Governor Anyang Nyong’o also predicted that Sifuna was built for the future when he headhunted him to be the Secretary General.
“First is the issue of Edwin Sifuna. I think none of you knows how Edwin Sifuna came into ODM. The guy is built for the future. You know what I mean. Ukiangalia huko mbele, utaona Sifuna. If you don’t know what I am saying, go home and think,” he predicted then.
Nyong’o spotted Sifuna’s talents through his newspaper contributions and decided to tap his knowledge and potential for the ODM party.
Nyong’o was convinced and humbled in his first interaction, and that marked the beginning of a new Secretary General for the party.
“Before I say much, I want to deal with a few matters rising from what has been spoken here. Are we together?
Edwin used to write for the Standard Newspaper, very good articles. And after serving for 12 years as Secretary General of ODM, I asked the party leader to allow me to concentrate on developing the research wing of the party and give the technocracy to another Secretary General.
We tried a few people; it never worked. So one day, I said to myself, that young man who writes so well in the Standard.
Let me call him and have lunch with him at United Kenya Club. I met Sifuna and I was very impressed. So I went and talked to the party leader and he agreed to have him on board,” he said in a previous speech.
He said Sifuna never failed him and that he has performed exceptionally well as the spokesperson of the party.
Jaramogi Oginga Odinga baton to Wamalwa Kijana
The doyen of the opposition, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, moved closer to fulfilling the prophesy by grooming and nurturing the youthful Wamalwa Kijana as his heir apparent.
The late Wamalwa became the Vice Chairman of Ford-K and, after Jaramogi’s death, he became the Chairman of the party.
Despite a power struggle with Jaramogi’s scion, the late Raila Amolo Odinga, Wamalwa gained control of the party, which eventually remained a Luhya party.
Raila resigned from the party to join the little-known NDP, on which he vied for the presidency in the 1997 general elections.
Wamalwa’s Ford-K party has remained a dominant political party in the Bukusu community for years but is currently slowly grinding to a halt after it lost in the by-election of Chwele-Kabuchai ward, the backyard and ward of the party leader Moses Wetangula.
Raila and Sifuna power play in the ODM
The late Raila, in his power gameplay and prison code messaging, often relied on Sifuna as his vehicle to pass his political messages.
For many, the contradictory stand Sifuna took on various emerging political issues in the country was actually Raila’s true position and opinion.
For instance, Oburu, ODM National Chairman Gladys Wanga, Junet Mohammed, among others, often criticised Sifuna for opposing the broad-based government of ODM and President William Ruto.
Raila, before his death, in an NTV interview, said he would support President William Ruto and the broad-based government up to 2027.
But a few days later, in a Citizen TV interview, Sifuna criticised the broad-based government and dismissed President Ruto’s administration, claiming the memorandum of understanding between ODM and UDA was dead.
The statement created a political storm in the party, and Raila, when he was in Kakamega for the party’s delegates meeting, came to the defence of Sifuna, saying the SG was free to express himself and should not be vilified for his constitutional right.
“It is not a must for people to have the same opinion, and we must defend the right to speak. If Sifuna has spoken, he has the right to do so, and if one feels they have a different opinion from what Sifuna is saying, then they should be free to say it. That is democracy,” Raila said then.
Sifuna said Raila entrusted him to prepare the final draft of the MOU with President Ruto against the protest of his close allies.
Raila indeed groomed Sifuna to be one of the country’s leading politicians.
Linda Mwanainchi Kakamega rally
The recent Kakamega rally birthed a new political dispensation in the Luhya community. The absence of all the elected political leaders from the region marked the birth of a new political leader.
The presence of Embakasi East MP Babu Owino and Siaya Governor James Orengo was a major statement in line with the prophesy.
In Luhya land, the rise of Sifuna is likened to the famous prophesy, but will he live up to the billing?