Former Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Thursday, March 20, 2025, met Cabinet Secretaries and other leaders allied to him amid speculation of a cabinet reshuffle and the reorganization of Principal Secretaries.

In the meeting, Raila met with Energy CS Opiyo Wandayi, Mining and Blue Economy CS Hassan Joho, Cooperatives CS Wycliffe Oparanya, Treasury CS John Mbadi and EAC &ASALs CS Askul Moe.

The meeting also included the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Chairman Ndiritu Muriithi, the leader of the Minority Party in the National Assembly Junet Mohamed and his Senate Minority Leader counterpart Stewart Madzayo.

Broad-based government

The ODM party leader on March 7, 2025, signed a working pact with Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance Party, which will see more of Raila’s men coopted into the Kenya-Kwanza administration.

Following the MoU, the leadership of parliamentary committees have since assumed the shape of the diversity in government, after ODM leaders took positions usually reserved for the ruling party like the chairperson of the Budget and Appropriations Committee which is now headed by Alego-Usonga MP Samuel Atandi who took over from Kiharu MP Ndindi Nyoro.

Several other committees both in the National Assembly and the Senate experienced major changes after the entry of Raila into Ruto’s administration.

Gachagua cries foul

The leaders met just days after former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said that the government was hatching a plan to kick out 15 Principal Secretaries and replace them with Raila’s allies.

Gachagua who was impeached on October 17, 2024, noted that while Mt Kenya was given 15 Principal Secretaries in 2022, Raila has requested a total of 10 such positions, a situation which will lead to the region remaining with only five PS posts.

“I had negotiated for 15 PS seats and I had pleaded with him (Ruto) to retain some of them, but he told me to let all Uhuru people go, we will bring new faces. New PSs were appointed as per his wish, but when the names were announced he had changed the list. He reappointed all Kalenjin PSs who served under Uhuru and when I questioned him, he told me if I want to appoint the PSs, I just vie for the Presidency so that I can appoint whoever I want,” Gachagua said.

Gachagua has vowed to lead a massive rebellion of the Mount Kenya region people against the current government, promising a change of power in the coming 2027 General Election.