DNK International By Xavier Lugaga,Busia.
What was intended to be a controlled political engagement quickly degenerated into a volatile showdown in Busia, Kenya—not Busia, Uganda—as an ODM faction discovered that rattling a snake can invite a painful strike.
Despite elaborate preparations, including the alleged presence of hired goons to firm up security and crowd control, the team led by Siaya Governor James Orengo, Nairobi Senator Edwin Sifuna, Vihiga Senator Godfrey Osotsi and Embakasi East MP Babu Owino stormed Busia for the Linda Mwananchi meeting only to meet an atmosphere thick with suspicion and defiance.
The rally grounds were electric.
An excited crowd surged forward as the leaders took the stage, defying attempts to choreograph the event.
Cheers mixed with heckling, revealing a base sharply divided over ODM’s direction and internal power struggles.
In fiery speeches, the visiting leaders vowed to “protect the people” from what they termed political vultures and masqueraders—figures they accused of hijacking the party’s ideals for personal gain.
The language, however, only intensified tensions, with critics reading the remarks as coded attacks on rival ODM factions and local power brokers.
Even with heavy mobilization, the Linda Mwananchi message struggled to land.
Many in Busia openly questioned why internal party battles were being fought on their soil, accusing the visiting team of exporting ODM’s Nairobi and Siaya-centric feuds to a region already grappling with its own political anxieties.
The Busia encounter exposed a deeper malaise within ODM: grassroots impatience with elite-driven politics and growing resistance to scripted populism.
The snake had been rattled, and the bite was unmistakable.
As the Linda Mwananchi tour presses on, the Busia episode stands as a warning.
Without humility, cohesion and genuine listening, ODM risks turning public forums into arenas of rebellion—weakening the very movement it seeks to defend.
[DNK-International@February 9,2026]
