 He was Parliamentary Secretary of the ODM from 2008 to 2013, and served as Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs from 2012 until the ODM lost office in the 2013 election.In 2016, Namwamba quit ODM where he was serving as Secretary General.He felt that the party leader Raila Odinga (who had stood for the presidency twice) was no longer capable of convincing voters to support him.