ODM 'coattail leaders' brace for uncertain 2027 after Raila's death

ODM Central Management Committee addresses the press after a meeting in Nairobi, on October 27, 2025. [File, Standard]

Several elected and nominated leaders in Nyanza and Western who have hung on the late ODM leader Raila Odinga’s political coattails to capture seats may have to go back to the drawing board as residents anticipate a dynamic shift in the region’s politics.

They are the group that won seats with minimal sweat after getting endorsements from Raila. In Nyanza, critics have always mocked them as 'osiem gi luth', which loosely infer to handpicked.