Delegates of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) in Nairobi have endorsed East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) MP Winnie Odinga for the position of deputy party leader. The move is being framed as an effort to restore Nairobi’s voice in the party’s top leadership.
The endorsement was backed by representatives from all 17 constituencies in Nairobi County, according to party leaders who spoke at the meeting.
A push to fill a Nairobi leadership gap
Makadara MP George Aladwa, who is also ODM’s Nairobi county chairman, said consultations in the county had been ongoing for weeks before delegates agreed on Winnie Odinga. He argued that Nairobi needed a clear representative at the top of the party’s structures.
Aladwa said delegates from the 17 constituencies had settled on Winnie Odinga to take up the role and represent the capital within ODM’s senior decision-making organs.
What the role could mean inside ODM
ODM’s deputy party leader position is one of the senior seats that shapes internal strategy and organisation. Nairobi officials also linked the endorsement to representation at the party’s National Executive Council (NEC), where key decisions are made between major party conferences.
Some reports also indicated that Nairobi delegates approved Winnie Odinga to take up a leading delegate role for the county within the party.
Who is Winnie Odinga
Winnie Odinga is a Kenyan representative to the East African Legislative Assembly. EALA is the legislative arm of the East African Community, bringing together elected members from partner states to debate laws and oversight regional programmes.
She was elected to EALA by Kenya’s Parliament on November 17, 2022, and sworn in on December 19, 2022, in Arusha, Tanzania, for a five-year term that runs to December 2027.
The endorsement comes amid wider leadership changes
The Nairobi development lands at a time when ODM has been navigating changes at the top. In October 2025, the party’s leadership organs endorsed Siaya Senator Oburu Odinga as party leader after Raila Odinga’s death, with Secretary General Edwin Sifuna urging party members to rally behind him.
Against that backdrop, Nairobi delegates are presenting Winnie Odinga’s endorsement as part of a broader push for equitable regional representation within ODM’s leadership.
The Nairobi branch says its goal is to ensure the capital is firmly represented as the party re-organises its leadership and prepares for future political contests
