Nyaribari Masaba MP Daniel Manduku has called for the reshuffle of Cabinet to hand powerful positions to former ODM Deputy party leaders Wycliffe Oparanya and Hassan Joho.

Speaking during a breakfast TV show on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, Manduku revealed that the ODM party would accept nothing short of a nusu mkate arrangement to feel part and parcel of the broad-based government.

“We as ODM members will not settle for anything less than nusu mkate. We are not interested in the seat of the speaker; we are comfortable with Moses Wetang’ula; we are also very comfortable with Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi,” Manduku stated.

“But we want three key cabinet secretaries so that we can feel there is portfolio balance.”

“We are happy with Treasury CS and Energy CS, but we think our (former) Deputy party leaders Oparanya and Joho should be reassigned significant portfolios and so, we are demanding Transport, Interior, Health or Agriculture so that we can feel that we are part and parcel of this government,” Manduku added.

The vocal ODM legislator equally observed that while the Kenya Kwanza administration had expressed goodwill by assigning opposition politicians leadership positions in key committees, the aim of the party is to achieve a 50-50 parity in cabinet and other state appointments.

Conditions for 2027 support

He insists that it is with this arrangement that President William Ruto can expect their support beyond the 2027 General Elections.

The remarks come a day after Raila Odinga revealed that his cooperation with President William Ruto would only be based on the full implementation of the NADCO report.

The report which was co-chaired by opposition leader Kalonzo Musyoka and Majority leader in the National Assembly Kimani Ichung’wah proposed a raft of governance changes including the creation of the office of the official opposition and the ratification of the office of the prime cabinet secretary.

Similarly, on March 3, 2025, Raila called on the government to honour its pledge to compensate the families of Kenyans who died during the 2023 and 2024 protests which rocked the country.

Power sharing

Raila also called on the government to compensate those who got injured and maimed as a result of police crackdown on protesters during the period.

The demands come against the backdrop of a section of legislators expressing worries that Raila could wield more power than Ruto if his demands are all met.

“Raila will not just be co-president but he will be more powerful than President Ruto,” Murang’a senator Joe Nyutu said during a breakfast TV show on March 3, 2025.

“As we speak President Ruto has no other plan other than hanging on Raila Odinga so whatever Raila asks he will get,” Nyutu noted.