ODM responds to Malema over ‘warning’ to Raila
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party has responded to South Africa's opposition leader Julius Malema, who "warned" Raila Odinga to stop "disrupting" Kenya.
On Saturday, Malema said he "would not allow" the opposition chief to destabilise the peace of Kenya.
"We want to make a call in Kenya, especially to comrade Raila Odinga. Stop doing what you are doing. Do not disrupt Kenya. We need peace in Kenya," Malema said.
"I will not allow you (Raila) to use the people of Kenya to destabilise the peace of Kenya."
In a statement on Sunday, July 30, 2023, ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna accused the opposition chief of being "ignorant" of Kenya's situation, where the government has "refused" to listen to its citizens.
"If Comrade Malema had bothered to look beyond the Kenya Kwanza regime propaganda, he would know that the recent protests in Kenya were against obscenely high taxes, rising cost of living and government refusal to listen to the people. I have no doubt that if Malema was Kenyan, his red army would have joined us in their numbers on the streets, similar to what they recently did in South Africa," Sifuna stated.
"Comrade Malema enjoys the enviable luxury of living in a country where all post-apartheid presidents have come from the ranks of liberators. Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramphosa are all inspirational figures in the freedom movement on our continent. I am certain that if Comrade Malema lived in a nation perennially led by collaborators and former home guards, thieves and liars, who not only steal elections at will but routinely send police to shoot unarmed civilians in a re-enaction of South Africa's own Sharpeville Massacre of 1960 or the Marikana Massacre of 2012, he would hold different views."
Sifuna's invitation to Malema
Sifuna has also invited the opposition leader to visit Kenya, offering to take him on a tour of the country to discover the challenges Kenyans are facing.
"I extend an invitation to comrade Malema to visit Kenya, so that I can personally take him on a tour of our country, so that he understands that we fight for the same things he does. In fact, Kenya's own quest for a people-driven constitutional framework has always looked up to South Africa's strong party foundations and structures to dilute our oppressive winner-take-all presidential system. That is what Comrade Malema is doing in South Africa and that is what we are doing in Kenya," Sifuna.
