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Sifuna breaks silence after looting of businesses in Nairobi CBD
15th October, 2025 05:52 PM
Orange Democratic Movement Party, through its Secretary General Edwin Sifuna, has urged Kenyans to maintain peace and avoid acts of violence or destruction in the wake of the death of ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga.
Speaking to one of the local TV stations while at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, Sifuna said Kenyans must make Raila proud by doing what he would have wanted, by upholding peace and unity.
His message came shortly after a group of suspected goons broke into several shops in Nairobi’s Central Business District and looted, prompting police to disperse crowds that had gathered in the city centre.
Sifuna calls for calm and peace
“We want to ask as well that everybody maintains peace. You should ask yourself before you do anything what Mzee would have wanted, what would make him smile and proud of you in this particular moment.
“There is no point in causing any mayhem, disrupting traffic or attacking anybody’s business. This is not what Mzee would have wanted,” Sifuna said.
The ODM Secretary General revealed that many leaders within the party had spoken to Raila as late as Tuesday, saying the news of his death caught them completely by surprise.
“If you talk to many of the leaders in ODM and those who knew Mzee, some of us spoke to him as late as yesterday, and he was okay, so we did not really expect this,” he said.
Sifuna reminded supporters that Raila was a man who stood for peace, respect and order, and urged them to honour his memory by maintaining calm.
Sifuna urges supporters to avoid Karen
Sifuna also made a special request to ODM supporters to reduce or avoid visiting Raila’s Karen home, explaining that Mama Ida Odinga is currently overwhelmed by the large number of visitors flocking to the residence.
“I want to make a very special request, both as a leader in Nairobi and as SG of ODM. Our people must now stop going to Mama Ida’s house because she is there alone and she is overwhelmed.
“We understand the love, and in fact, the discussion amongst the leadership is that we need to set up some points for people who would want to mourn Mzee. It does not necessarily have to be in Karen,” Sifuna said.
He concluded by offering condolences to the ODM family and apologising for the delay in communication about Raila’s death.
“I want to take this opportunity to say pole to the entire ODM fraternity and to the family of the late Raila Odinga. I want to apologise to the members of ODM and the country in general for the delay in the morning because this news was broken by other media before we could do that,” he said.
