Back in the days, ODM leader Raila Odinga and former Budalang’i Member of Parliament (MP) Ababu Namwamba were very close.
Their closeness went as far as Ababu Namwamba swearing allegiance to the ODM party boss after the 2007 general elections. It was on January 15, 2008.
The 10th parliament MPs were being sworn in. President Mwai Kibaki was announced the winner of the presidential vote, but ODM’s Raila Odinga remained adamant that he had won and rigged out.
The MPs were being sworn in, in alphabetical order. Ababu Namwamba was the first to be called to the swearing-in stand.
Speaker Kenneth Marende had made a determination that MPs would take oath as was prescribed – swearing allegiance to the President and country. Nambwamba would hear none of it.
He swore allegiance to Odinga. “I was close to Raila more than anyone else. On January 15, 2008, in my first day in Parliament carrying a Bible, I Ababu Namwamba swore in Raila’s name as the President of the Republic of Kenya," he once said.
Ababu broke ranks with ODM in 2016 after accusing the party leadership of undermining him as Secretary General.
He joined Julia Ojiambo’s Labor Party. He lost the Budalang’i MP seat to ODM’s Raphael Wanjala during last year’s general elections.
Ababu Namwamba is now the Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of foreign affairs.
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