President Ruto's hand in millions splashed at ODM event

An estimated Sh100 million was spent on the Orange Democratic Movement’s (ODM) Special National Delegates Convention (SDC) held on Friday at Jamhuri grounds in Nairobi.

The revelation has raised questions on the sources of the millions, considering the fact that the party has been lamenting it does not have funds to run its activities. 

The estimation is based on what was given to each delegate who attended the event. A member privy to party operations told The Sunday Standard that each of the estimated 3,000 delegates was to receive Sh30,000.

This amount was meant for a three-day accommodation, meals and transport.

“The understanding was that Sh5,000 each day for accommodation, especially for delegates coming from far, Sh5,000 for meals and the remaining Sh10,000 for transport,” said the senior member who was part of the planning of the SDC.

However, it emerged that some delegates received less than the stated amount. This was the scenario for most delegates from Nairobi who were each given Sh2,000 for facilitation.  At least 20 delegates were to come from the 17 sub-counties in the capital city. 

“Delegates from Nairobi were paid Sh2,000 while others got 10,000 for facilitation after the event, but not all the delegates attended,” said an MCA, lifting the lid on how some of the delegates were short-changed by those charged with the responsibility of sharing the facilitation money. According to an insider, each delegate who attended the SDC was supposed to receive Sh30,000 for transport, meals and accommodation for those coming from far-flung areas. 

Those from Nyanza, ODM’s traditional stronghold, are said to have received up to Sh25,000 each from the party. However, in some parts of Kisumu, some delegates said that they received Sh9,000 to attend the event. 

“We received the money the moment we boarded a bus in Kisumu, that was all for fare, meals and accommodation,” said a delegate who did not want to be named, lamenting that the constituency party chair might have short-changed them. 

From Vihiga County, a faction led by branch chairperson Zebedee Osabwa attended the Linda Mwananchi meeting instead, while only 20 delegates made it to the SDC at Jamhuri grounds.  One of the delegates who attended the Jamhuri Grounds meeting, and who spoke on condition of anonymity, revealed that facilitation played a key role in ensuring attendance. 

“We were given the money when we had already left, through the official who mobilised us,” said the source. 

According to the delegate, each participant from Vihiga County received Sh10,000 as reimbursement for transport and accommodation—an amount that appears modest compared to what was reported in other regions. 

“We have heard that some people from the neighbouring counties received up to Sh30,000, yet we got much less than that, only Sh10,000,” the delegate said. 

From the Coast, those who attended the SDC received between Sh15,000 to Sh20,000, depending on which area they came from.

Some delegates from Tana River said they received Sh20,000 for transport, meals and accommodation while those from Kilifi and Kwale received Sh15,000.

It is estimated that about 3000 delegates from all over the country attended the SDC after several weeks of planning, mainly reaching out to the ODM chairmen in the Sub-Counties to identify their candidates.

Assuming that each delegate out of the 3,000 received Sh30,000, this amounts to Sh90,000,000 that was spent on delegates alone.

The other expenses were for entertainment, refreshments, security, merchandise, and other miscellaneous expenditures, which are estimated to have consumed Sh10 million.

There were also about 500 youths at the venue who told The Sunday Standard that they were given Sh2,000 each for providing security to the top politicians.

The huge expenditure raises questions where the millions come from given that some senior ODM party led by the party's Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, have been on record saying the party has no money, and by virtue of his being a signatory to the account, he would know the balance in the accounts.

There are reports that the millions splashed during the SDC were from State House.

One of the party leaders from Nairobi claimed that President Ruto funded the event."The money was from President Ruto; he is the one who sponsored it," the leader stated.

Similarly, ODM youth leader Brian Midiwo, told The Sunday Standard that there were several meetings at State House attended by top party officials prior to the SDC. 

"Yes, the President has a hand in ODM affairs. We know this. He held meetings with some party officials at State House days before the event. ODM has no money," he told this publication on phone.

Midiwo, who is a close ally of Winnie Odinga, said the interference of the party affairs by the Head of State is detrimental to the party's progress.

"Sentiments by Winnie did not indicate support for either faction. We need a party that is accommodating. We need money to build the party. We need a new party," he added. 

ODM Director of Communication Philip Etale dismissed the allegations, terming them as propaganda from known individuals. He maintained that ODM is not a briefcase party and has held such an event before.

"ODM is a big party with means. The party cannot organise an event of this magnitude when it does not have resources," Etale said.

Efforts to reach the party chairperson Gladys Wanga were futile as she failed to pick our calls.

On his part, ODM Executive Director Oduor Ongweng was non-committal, saying "how is that your business," before hanging up the phone 

From the outset, the optics of the convention told a story difficult to reconcile with a party function whose coffers are empty as some officials have lamented that the State is withholding its funds. 

The event bore the hallmarks of State sponsorship rather than a party-funded exercise. 

The scale of the event involved elaborate logistical arrangements, mobilisation, and security coordination, which ensured smooth running of the activities. 

The absence of any corresponding financial activity within official party accounts therefore raises a glaring anomaly: if the party did not fund its own highest decision-making forum, then who did?

During Raila's burial ceremony last October, Ruto vowed to protect ODM from being weakened or misused, saying he will not allow anyone to go and gamble with it in the opposition.

Pundits interpreted this as a warning that he would not allow those he considers party rebels to forge an alliance with the opposition parties. 

"What I will not allow, out of my respect for Raila Odinga, and I will do my best, May God help me, is to let those who want to take ODM to go and gamble with it in the opposition to succeed," he said. 

Riding on these remarks and the cordial relationship the President is sharing with the Oburu faction, political analyst Daniel Juma, who supports the broad-based arrangement, opines that "it is no longer a secret" that Ruto is controlling ODM. 

"Ruto has agreed that they are in a working relationship with the party. And Ruto basically still considers himself an ODM member,"  he told The Sunday Standard, adding, "I don't  find it strange because our politics is the way it is." 

On whether Ruto's meddling in ODM affairs would disintegrate the party, he said: "Raila himself decided to go into a working arrangement with Ruto and had members of his party appointed into government. And those who are trying to say that Raila did not know what he was doing should form another outfit."  

Prior to its 20th anniversary celebrations, the party demanded its share of the Political Parties Fund from the government. 

“The government has failed to release monies owed to ODM. We are demanding that the funds be released as required by law and in honour of the departed comrade Raila Odinga,” ODM's Central Committee meeting said in a statement in October last year. 

On the other hand, the Sifuna, who is one of the signatories of the ODM accounts, has been quoted as saying that the party coffers are empty. 

And that even if the party had funds in its accounts, he has not sanctioned any transaction to finance the ongoing party activities since the death of former party leader Raila Odinga. 

“I can state authoritatively that the resources you see being spent in ODM rallies, the so-called Linda Ground, are not coming from ODM headquarters,” the Nairobi Senator said in February during a local TV show. 
 
He added: “I know for a fact that there is parallel funding for activities clothed in ODM colours, and they run around saying they are ODM delegates. Linda Ground rallies are not financed from ODM quarters or party coffers. That one I can tell you for free.”

At Linda Mwananchi, leaders at the parallel event held at Ufungamano House, accused their Linda Ground counterparts of advancing Ruto's agenda. 

“Raila was surrounded by scavengers five years before his death. What is happening now is a culmination of what started in the past. In December last year, I was among the ODM leaders invited to Transmara by the President to auction the party, but I refused,” said Suba South Caroli Omondi.

 Additional reporting by Brian Kasanji and Benard Sanga