Rejecting the UDA-ODM Committee on 10-Point Agenda and NADCO

August 8, 2025

On the 6th August 2025, UDA and ODM formed a 5 Member Committee, ostensibly, “…to address long-standing national challenges through the full implementation of the NADCO Report, promotion of inclusivity in public life, and protection and strengthening of devolution”. The formation of this Committee follows a host of committees, task forces, and commissions that have been formed for various purposes, with little in the way of results. Leading the way is the NADCO initiative itself, formed as a result of the contentious 2022 elections, and nationwide protests that ensued over the cost of living, electoral reforms and governance reforms. No one is blind to the fact that nothing changes because the same sludge of systemic rot that benefits the few stays in place, the same corrupt players pull the strings, and political power-grab remains the core intention. Elite capture of the economy intensifies with all these pata-potea Committees and Handshakes. The formation of these bureaucratic bodies is a deceit that comes at great expense to the taxpayer. This repeated insult against the intelligence of Kenyans will not go unchallenged. What Kenyans want is real systemic change. What they are getting is reckless performative governance by a lazy leadership whose investment is purely in elite bargains. If and when there’s a need for ad hoc committees, they must have the capacity to reset governance to the rule of law, restore the humanity of ordinary Kenyans lost through games of selfish elite power-grabs, and rebuild the institutions that must hold leaders accountable.