ODM party leader Oburu Oginga has dismissed as a figment of imagination discussions in the public domain purporting to outline the agenda for the impending talks with their broad-based partner, United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
Speaking on Friday when he met Nyanza church leaders in Kisumu, Oburu said the agenda for the meeting remains a guarded secret for now and will only be made public at a later date.
“Issues being discussed in public are just people thinking aloud. But the agenda is being prepared by our technical team. They are drafting a detailed agenda which will be made public soon—it will not remain a secret,” he said.
The state of affairs between the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and UDA has grown increasingly fragile in recent days, marked by tense relations ahead of the highly anticipated negotiations.
At the centre of the tensions is ODM’s demand for zoning—an arrangement where UDA would refrain from fielding candidates in perceived ODM strongholds—a proposal UDA has firmly rejected.
ODM national chairperson Gladys Wanga has described zoning in party strongholds as a “non-negotiable” condition for any 2027 partnership.
However, UDA secretary general Hassan Omar rejected the demand, insisting that the party has a right to compete nationwide and will not accept restrictions on where it can field candidates.
On Thursday, the ODM Central Committee issued a sharp warning to UDA, accusing some of its senior officials of making “unwarranted public remarks” that have unsettled ODM members, with some calling for an end to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) if the “disrespect” persists.
Amid calls for mutual respect, Oburu clarified that a solution to the differences will be found once the formal negotiations for a 2027 pact start, noting that current engagements remain at a preliminary stage.
“We have not started negotiations as yet. And this thing called zoning is just one of the tools for achieving what we want,” he said.
Oburu, who took over leadership of ODM following the death of his younger brother Raila Odinga in October 2025, maintained that the party is not ready to cede any elective positions in its strongholds to any other party.
“We are going to compete, and we are going to compete very fiercely. What we are saying is that we don’t want to compete with people with whom we are going into partnership,” he added.
UDA has recently been conducting mass recruitment drives, fuelling concerns within ODM that its grassroots influence could be eroded.
Some ODM leaders now fear that UDA is using the broad-based government arrangement to coerce its members and reduce the party into a regional outfit.
While top leadership in both parties appears keen on forging a partnership to secure victory in 2027, lower-level structures remain marked by caution, mistrust and rivalry as they await the start of formal negotiations.
