Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja has left the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and joined the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM). He will seek a second term in the 2027 General Election on an ODM ticket.
Sakaja announced the move on Monday, November 2, 2026, at ODM’s Chungwa House headquarters in Lavington, Nairobi, where he was received by ODM Deputy Party Leader Simba Arati, National Chairperson Gladys Wanga and other senior party officials.
He said the late former Prime Minister Raila Odinga had personally urged him to join the party.
“If Baba was here today, and he is the one who told me to join ODM, he said that Nairobi should remain bold, and we will do everything to ensure that it is present in ODM,” Sakaja said.
The governor said he was bringing experience and a strong base of young supporters to boost the party ahead of the elections, adding that leaders should be judged by the difference they make in people’s lives.
“I bring with me the commitment I had to service, experience, energy and conviction that the next phase of politics, the next chapter of our politics must be measured not simply by elections we win but the lives we transform,” he said.
Sakaja said his decision was shaped by his close relationship with Raila and his support for the late leader’s ideals.
He had hinted at the switch on Saturday, October 31, at a memorial event for Raila at Jacaranda Grounds, where he asked the crowd whether he should join ODM, UDA or the Democracy for Citizens Party (DCP). The crowd urged him to pick ODM.
“The voice of the people is the voice of God. Chair and party leader, you will guide me,” he told ODM leaders at the event.
ODM has courted Sakaja for months. On August 26, the governor confirmed that the party had approached him.
“There has been that call. Some officials and party members have said that they want me to move to their party,” he said at the time. “I was very close with Raila Odinga. He was like my father, and I spent a lot of time with him.”
Raila backed Sakaja’s re-election bid in 2025, before his death.
ODM, however, says Sakaja will not get the Nairobi governorship ticket automatically and must compete with other aspirants in the party primaries. Makadara MP George Aladwa is expected to be among his rivals for the ticket.
If Sakaja wins the nomination, he is likely to face Mwananchi Party’s Babu Owino, Kasarani MP Ronald Karauri and other prominent politicians in the race for the county’s top seat.
Sakaja was elected Nairobi governor in 2022 on a UDA ticket, defeating Jubilee’s Polycarp Igathe.
His move comes as ODM and UDA work together under the broad-based government and as politicians across the country reposition themselves for the 2027 polls.
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