Kaluma says Raila’s pact with Ruto has sent Gachagua back to drawing board
By Steve Ireri, March 12, 2025Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma has declared that ODM leader Raila Odinga’s decision to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with President William Ruto has fundamentally shifted Kenya’s political landscape, forcing Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua to rethink his strategy.
According to Kaluma, the agreement, which aims to foster national unity, inclusivity, and equitable governance, has not only given Kenyans an issue to debate for the foreseeable future but has also dismantled what he termed as Gachagua’s tribalist political approach
In a statement on his X on Wednesday, March 12, 2025, Kaluma celebrated the pact, asserting that it had left the former deputy president scrambling to realign his political standing.
“By signing that MoU with President @WilliamsRuto to secure national unity, inclusivity, and equity in Kenya, Baba @Raila Odinga has given the nation what to discuss for a whole year and sent Gachagua and his hateful team of tribalists back to the drawing board!” Kaluma said.
He further claimed that Raila could now rest easy while Ruto’s newfound partnership with the opposition leader strengthened his influence across all regions of Kenya.
“He can now relax, moossd, as the face of President Ruto lights up every region of Kenya! Hii imeenda!” he added.
ODM’s demands
Earlier on Tuesday, March 11, 2025, the MP also came out to reinforce his firm stance that ODM’s recent agreement with President William Ruto’s administration must translate into concrete benefits for the party’s supporters, arguing that mere political cooperation without visible rewards would be a betrayal to those who have long stood by the party.
The legislator, in a similar statement on his X account, insisted that without clear benefits for ODM members and its support base, the party’s newfound cooperation with the ruling coalition would be meaningless.
Kaluma underlined the need for ODM to have a visible presence in the national government, arguing that its supporters deserved recognition in public service.
“We cannot claim to be part of administration when our people remain absent from state appointments,” he remarked.
His concerns were centred on two key issues, with the first being that many teachers from his region remained jobless for years, often retiring without ever securing employment under the Teachers Service Commission (TSC).
The second and perhaps more pressing concern for Kaluma was the conspicuous absence of leaders from the Nyanza region in key government positions, pointing out that the region has been sidelined in appointments to powerful roles such as principal secretaries, chief executive officers of state corporations, managing directors, commissioners, and county commissioners.
“It is either a land flowing with milk and honey or no promised land at all! Our demand is simple—we want our rightful and proportional share of opportunities in this country. We can no longer champion good governance in vain; our people must reap the benefits of our sacrifices,” Kaluma asserted.
The ODM MP made his demands just days after ODM and the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) formalised a working agreement through an MoU signed at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) on March 7, 2025.