A fresh disclosure has cracked open an old tension within the Orange Democratic Movement, the uneasy dance between legacy and ambition.
Speaking on Sunday night on Citizen TV, long-time aide Dennis Onyango offered a candid portrait of the late statesman’s private reservations about Babu Owino.
The youthful legislator, known for his sharp rhetoric and rapid ascent, was seen not as a protégé in waiting but as a disruptor moving too fast for a party built on patience.
“Raila thought Babu Owino was going to be trouble… he was impatient,” Onyango said, his words landing with the weight of hindsight.
Onyango reasoned that ODM, forged in the ideological lineage of Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, has long operated like a carefully choreographed queue—each leader inching forward through years of loyalty and negotiation.
Into this slow-moving procession burst Owino, propelled by youth, charisma, and a fiercely loyal urban base.
Dennis Onyango: Raila thought Babu was going to be a trouble to his base. He thought the guy was very impatient #CitizenSundayLive pic.twitter.com/SrHIqFj2bA
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) June 7, 2026
For Odinga, Onyango suggested, this posed a dilemma: how to accommodate a rising star without unsettling veterans who had waited decades for their moment.
The result was a quiet friction: less public fallout, more strategic hesitation.
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Yet politics, like time, rarely pauses. By Monday, June 8, Owino’s response was swift and restrained:
“I think this is unfair, but we will be there no matter what.”
The brevity spoke volumes. Beneath it lies a familiar question in Kenyan politics, whether generational change must wait its turn, or whether it inevitably forces its way through.
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