“ I Am Not Afraid of You, Raila’s Daughter Winnie Tells off Critics

The East Africa Legislative Assembly (EALA) Member of Parliament Winninie Odinga has told off her critics in the Ornage Democratic Movement (ODM) saying she will not be cowed by their threats. “There was one song ringing in my head,” she said, referring to the late Kenyan rapper E-Sir’s hit. “Hamunitishi.” “Small threats will do nothing to me,” Winnie the last born child of the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga added. “You cannot scare me.” Winnie warned that she will not remain silent when things go wrong within the Orange Democratic Movement. Speaking during a rally in Kibra, Nairobi on Sunday, Winnie said she was aware of the resistance she faces from some quarters of the party but insisted she would continue speaking out, regardless of the discomfort it causes. She painted a picture of a party struggling to find direction following the absence of its longtime leader, likening ODM to a vehicle whose driver is suddenly gone. “From what I have heard here, our party has a lot going on,” she said. “We were passengers and Baba was the driver and then one day Baba was no more.” “Out of nowhere, those who were near him rushed to the steering wheel, and they are all pulling it every direction. And they are pushing us like luggage,” Winnie added. She told supporters that her family was not aligned to any of the emerging camps. “As a family, we are not in either faction we are team Baba,” she said. Winnie also accused some leaders of hypocrisy, saying there are individuals now claiming proximity to Raila Odinga who never truly believed in his cause. “There are people who never believed in Baba, they were just using him,” she said. “There are people who have never been there during ODM struggles.” Looking ahead, Winnie urged ODM members to remain patient until the party’s National Delegates Congress (NDC), which she predicted would be contentious. “Winnie told the supporters to wait for ODM’s National Delegates Congress, which she said would be a fiery meeting,” she said. “We want to go to the NDC, and there, things will be hot.” She also dismissed claims by some leaders that they are acting on instructions allegedly left behind by Raila Odinga. “Those who are saying Baba said this said or that are not well mannered,” she said. Winnie has never been fully embedded in ODM’s internal power structures the way other party figures are.