Sifuna roots for Matiang’i, says he is the strongest weapon against Ruto

Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna has come to the defence of former Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr Fred Matiang’i over assertions that he is not fit to vie for the presidency on grounds that he allegedly presided over abductions and extrajudicial killings.

Sifuna, who has ruffled feathers within ODM leader Raila Odinga’s inner circle over his opposition to the broad-based government deal that brought the party’s luminaries into Cabinet and any plot to back President William Ruto’s re-election, vowed for Matiang’i’s credentials, saying he offers the best chance to defeat him in 2027.

“Matiang’i isn’t a saint and he doesn’t need to be. If he is the one that can bring Ruto down, then he is the man for the job. Let us cut the hypocrisy, no one in politics is righteous. We are not looking for angels; we are looking for someone who can win and fix this country. And when it comes to performance, discipline and results, Matiang’i doesn’t just qualify; he dominates. This is war and in war, you choose the strongest weapon. Right now, that weapon is Matiang’i,” the vocal senator said during an interview on Citizen TV on Tuesday niight.

At the same time, Sifuna addressed the intrigues within ODM where some of those close to Raila have threatened to oust him as Secretary General over his repeated attacks against Ruto and his opposition to the deal that has also seen some of those close to the Opposition leader given jobs as Principal Secretaries, parastatal chiefs and advisors even as he insists that he is not in government but will back the President until 2027.

At one time, Ruto, who was a founder member of ODM before bolting out after a fallout with Raila, threatened to push for his ouster as secretary general.

However, Sifuna said the President was bitter for asking him to stop using teargas against students following the dispersal of Butere Girls students who had sought to perform the “Echoes of War” play at the National Drama and Music Festival in Nakuru but walked out after former Kakamega senator Cleophas Malala, who wrote the controversial play was arrested on the eve of their performance.

He said he will only quit if Raila asks him to do so if he loses confidence in him, the same way he did when he trusted him with the top job in the Orange party.

“If I were asked to step aside as SG of ODM, I would. Even when I became SG of ODM, I was asked if we gave you this position, would you be able to do it, and I said yes. If that same person calls me today and says Sifuna, I have lost confidence in your ability to do this job, this position is not mine, I would relinquish it without blinking,” he said during the interview.

Sifuna also said the other reason he can resign is if he has not given up on ODM and the belief that Raila knows what he is doing by siding with Ruto to save his administration after last year’s Gen Z revolt and that he would make up the right decision when the time comes.

Further, he ruled out decamping to form a new party as he denied any association with the Green Thinking Action Party.

“The reason I will not resign yet is that I have not given up. I have not given up on members of the ODM. There is still belief and trust within the ranks of the party that Baba knows what is right for the people and that he will do the right thing. On the day that I give up, I will say it publicly that I have lost the battle to rescue this party and to bring it back to where it was,” he said.

“I don’t have to be SG, but I will be happy to be a small fish in a big pond rather than go and be a big fish in some small pond somewhere,” the senator added.

But even as he rooted for Dr Matiang’i, who is part of the United Opposition alongside former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua of Democracy for Citizens Party, former Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka of Wiper Patriotic Front, former Justice minister Martha Karua of People’s Liberation Front and former Defence Cabinet Secretary Eugene Wamalwa of DAP-Kenya, among others, Sifuna insisted ODM has what it takes to win the next presidential election even if Raila is not in the race.

“ODM has not run out of leaders. ODM has not run out of the ability to produce presidential candidates. My view about 2027 is that there will be no room for sentiment. The project of removing William Ruto does not allow for sentiment. We will not work with angels — even Sifuna is not an angel,” he said.

He, at the same time, did not rule out working with Matiang’i, who played key roles in former president Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration.