Treasury CS Mbadi shifts political base to Nairobi ahead of 2027 polls
The Treasury Cabinet Secretary is plotting to inherit Raila's political space as Luo kingpin amid a split and acute leadership wrangles in ODM party. It is also a scheme linked to President Ruto's campaign to win a second term in 2027, which has so far been recorded as an uphill task
By Adieri Mulaa
Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has shifted his political base from Homa Bay to Nairobi City as Mt. Kenya fired the first shot signaling President William Ruto’s waning support in the vote-rich region.
Apparently, it is a well-crafted political scheme in a frantic move to galvanise ethnic Luo support for President William Ruto in Nairobi City County, where the UDA Kikuyu bloc vote is in the doldrums.
Mbadi made his grand entry in the Nairobi City political arena on Saturday, May 2, 2026, through an event dubbed Embakasi Central women empowerment forum, in Embakasi Central constituency.
The area Member of Parliament is Benjamin Gathiru Mwangi, commonly known as Mejja Donk, an ardent supporter of DCP leader Rigathi Gachagua. The fundraising event was hosted by Kayole South MCA Collins Ogenga of ODM.
It is not a secrete, that in his long political career, John Mbadi had harboured ambition to inherit the position of Luo Kingpin after Raila.
The Treasury Cabinet Secretary is plotting to inherit Raila’s political space as Luo kingpin, amid the split and acute leadership wrangles in ODM party.
It is also a scheme linked to President Ruto’s tooth and nail campaign to win a second term in 2027, which has so far been recorded as an uphill task.
A famous legendary adage attributed to Russian revolutionary leader, Vladimir Lenin, that says – “power is not given, it is taken”, now appears to be Mbadi’s guiding philosophy in his new political focus.
To quench is long thirst, the Treasury Cabinet Secretary and former long serving Member of Parliament, has given a stab at the ethnic Luo leadership position in the capital city.
Nairobi City was Raila Odinga’s political springboard in the early 1990’s and it remained his strong strategic base throughout his life in public leadership.
In the chronology of events depicting Mbadi’s take over crash programme, he was crowned as patron of Nairobi Luo Council of Elders, in a ceremony held in the capital city on Wednesday, May 6, 2026.
However, some pundits argue that Mbadi has a temperamental demeanour that would require him to come down, be tolerant and accommodative, without spewing arrogance against alternative views or proposals.
In the fast-unfolding script, impeccable sources intimated to The Informer Weekly that a week ago, CS Mbadi held a closed-door meeting with all elected and nominated Luo MCAs in the Nairobi City County Assembly at his Treasury Building offices.
The Assembly is on recess and details of the said meeting remain scanty. However, a source indicated that Mbadi advised the MCAs to identify projects of their choice in their respective Wards, and notify him for support.
The Treasury Cabinet Secretary reportedly intends to fund the projects identified by ODM MCAs from the national kitty he presides over, to the tune of Sh30million shillings for each MCA.
It is not clear whether the projects are those already identified through the County Annual Development Plan (ADP) and budgeted for funding by the County Treasury.
Even though, the County Assembly will most likely question Mbadi’s selective development strategy, favouring ODM party MCAs in Nairobi, if not for political expediency, under the party cooperation with UDA.
Political realignment in Mt. Kenya following impeachment former deputy president Gachagua on October 17, 2024 and sharp divisions in ODM after Raila Odinga’s death a year later, on October 15, 2026 have deeply impacted the political terrain in Nairobi.
The two scenarios have greatly disoriented President Ruto’s political chase board in Nairobi City in the run up to elections in August next year.
Traditionally, ODM has relied on ethnic strongholds on the Luhya, Kamba and Kisii vote to command political supremacy in Nairobi City.
Similarly, outside Nyanza region, the party has over the years depended on the Western region, Eastern, Coast, North Eastern regions and parts of the Rift Valley region like Turkana, to hold onto its supremacy as a large party, with clear national outlook.
However, this traditional support has waned drastically, hardly seven months after the death of the Orange party founder leader, Raila Amolo Odinga.
Since Raila’s demise last October, ODM is operating like an appendage of President Ruto’s ruling UDA party. This has occasioned lethal divisions in ODM party and its leadership.
Arising from the divisions, the Luhya community which had supported Raila Odinga in five elections through ODM have been relegated to the second fiddle by the ODM leadership.
The friction has seen two Luhya leaders in the party removed from their party positions in NEC and deputy party leadership, and ODM being turned into a Luo Nyanza party.
A week ago, ODM held a high-level retreat comprising the National Executive Committee officials, governors, Members of Parliament and the party Trustees, who included former Busia Senator and long serving Attorney General Amos Wako.
The party leader, Dr Oburu Oginga did not attend the crucial retreat as earlier planned. His remarks were conveyed by the Deputy Party Leader, Simba Arati, who is also the governor for Kisii County.
A statement from the party leader said he was unable to attend due to “unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances”.
In his remarks, Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi, who is also the Chairperson of the Council of Governors did not mince his words at the ODM top cream forum attended by the party chairperson Gladys Wanga.
”I want to tell our fellows from the lakeside, ODM is not a Nyanza party. The petty rivalries you have in your counties should not kill Baba’s party”, Governor Abdullahi said.
He went on: “If you think you are a governor and you have a problem that your Senator has become a party leader, that is not our problem”.
The governor noted that “Those petty petty rivalries in Luo Nyanza counties should not kill ODM”.
”It does not belong to you. We are also members”, he added.
In Nairobi county, it is the crucial vote from the Luhya, Kamba and Kisii communities that handed Raila the strength he commanded in the capital city.
The manner ODM has handled Nairobi County Senator Edwin Sifuna sawed a political seed of discord dimming the vibrant Luhya Support for the party.
This situation was exacerbated by the removal of Vihiga County Senator Godfrey Osotsi as deputy party leader, followed by a brutal attack by hired goons at a restaurant in Kisumu.
Saboti MP Caleb Amisi was also kicked out of ODM National Executive Committee (NEC) which does not augur well for the Luhya community.
The United Opposition factor bringing together DCP leader Gachagua, Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka, Jubilee Deputy Party Leader Fred Matiang’i and Engine Wamalwa of DAP – K command a huge vote bloc in Nairobi.
It is concern that worries President Ruto as he seeks to have political control in the capital city in the run up to the General Election.
