Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has walked out of the ruling United Democratic Alliance and into the Orange Democratic Movement, the party he will use to fight for a second term in 2027.
Main image: DGBN graphic. Photo: LuffyDe / Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Sakaja was formally received into ODM on Monday, 2 November, at the party’s Chungwa House headquarters in Nairobi. Senior officials, including deputy party leader Simba Arati, were on hand to welcome him, Kenyan media reported.
The move ends weeks of speculation over which ticket the city boss would carry into the next general election. Sakaja won the governorship in 2022 on a UDA ticket.
A switch long in the making
The governor had been signalling the shift for some time. On Saturday, 31 October, he attended an ODM rally at Jacaranda Grounds, where he asked the crowd which party he should run on. Supporters called out for ODM, and he then asked the party’s leaders at the rally to take him in.
In August, Sakaja hinted that he was weighing a move away from the ruling party but said he was still consulting. He has spoken warmly of his ties to the late ODM leader Raila Odinga, describing him as a father figure. Odinga publicly backed Sakaja’s re-election bid in 2025.
ODM’s pitch for the capital
ODM has courted Sakaja for months, arguing that it is the biggest party in Nairobi and that he would have a better chance of re-election on its ticket. Suna East MP Junet Mohamed was blunt, telling Sakaja that if he wanted another term he should come to ODM, and warning that nobody would elect him if he stayed where he was.
There was no immediate public reaction from UDA in the reports reviewed by DGBN.
The defection adds another twist to a fast-moving 2027 contest, with alliances still shifting across Kenya’s political map. For earlier coverage of the build-up, read Wetang’ula’s warning to the opposition over the IEBC.
Why it matters
Nairobi is East Africa’s economic heart and home to one of the continent’s most dynamic young populations and a large diaspora-linked business community. Who runs City Hall shapes services, investment and opportunity for millions. Sakaja’s move shows how much ODM’s grassroots machine still counts in the capital, even after Odinga’s death, and sets up a closely watched race for the city in 2027.