Fresh twist as hopefuls reject ODM elections board

ODM past leadership. [PHOTO: STANDARD/FILE]

By JAMES MBAKA

NAIROBI, KENYA: Protests have rocked ODM after some members rejected the team named recently to oversee the forthcoming party elections.

At least four MPs who plan to contest for top positions have rejected the composition of the National Elections Board (NEB), alleging it is a threat to credible polls.

They are uneasy about the retention of six officials who served on the board that oversaw party nominations marred with allegations of impropriety in the run-up to the last General Election.

The members said the bungled nominations cost ODM seats after popular candidates rigged out in the primaries fled to fringe parties.

MPs Elizabeth Ongoro, Abdullahi Dirje (Wajir South) and Manson Nyamweya (South Mugirango) are among those who questioned the wisdom of retaining the officials.

Bundalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba was more diplomatic but demanded credible polls.

Critics want those who served in the previous NEB excluded from the team to manage the polls that are billed to usher in fresh leadership for the country’s single largest political entity.

Those who served in the previous board are East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) member Judy Pareno, who will chair the board, and colleague at EALA Nancy Abisai, Chacha Nyaigoiti Chacha, Peter Kuguru, former Assistant minister Joseph Misoi and Hellen Katangie.

Other members are former Nyakach MP Peter Odoyo, Mwajirani Aman, Peter Mutulu and Rashif Ibrahim.

Ms Ongoro, a nominated senator, fired a salvo at the Ms Pareno-led team, saying it was a blend of failures that ruined the previous party processes.

Ongoro, who is eyeing the position of secretary general, said the nine-member team lacked freshness of ideas and necessary technical expertise to conduct credible elections.

She said the party had entered the build-up to the elections on a wrong footing by failing to properly constitute a credible and reliable body to manage the elections.

BUNGLED NOMINATIONS

“This is the worst thing I have ever seen, this is the very team that bungled the last nominations without any ounce of shame, and has been paraded again to carry out a task it miserably failed to execute,” Ongoro told The Standard.

Former Makadara MP Reuben Ndolo, who is gunning for the post of organising secretary, took issue with the reinstatement of Dr Misoi to the current board.

“I have no confidence in Misoi because he had served in the former board as a secretary and they bungled nominations, which cost the party dearly. We had rejected him last time, why return him now?” quipped Mr Ndolo.

Ndolo said party members had invested heavily in the party and wanted credible elections.

Mr Dirje, the Wajir South MP who is contesting for the deputy national treasurer position, said he did not have faith in the team as currently constituted.

“I want to state clearly that we still hope that there is more time to put up a credible team that can be entrusted with the task of delivering free, fair and democratic elections,” said Dirje.

He warned that ODM risked plunging into a more divisive election than the mess that cost the party dearly in the past poll.

“Our county produced the highest number of seats won by ODM candidates, what will we have to take home if a referee that has been appointed to oversee the elections convincingly looks partisan and dependent?” said the MP.

INTERNAL DEMOCRACY

South Mugirango’s Mr Nyamweya, who is running for the chairman’s position, warned that “this was a well-placed opportunity for the party to show that it does not only agitate for democracy but it really practices it”.

The MP noted that Kenyans would only take the party seriously if there was internal democracy.

“What we are saying is that some of the members included in the board served in the previous team that really messed up the party, and we cannot entrust the same body to bring freshness to the party,” he said.

Gitonga Wathanga, an aspirant for the position of party organising secretary, said it was important that those who had an opportunity to serve in the previous team be left out and a neutral team brought on board.

“Some of the officials interfered a lot with the nominations. They even literally collected money from aspirants with the promise that they were going to secure them nomination certificates,” said Mr Wathanga.

Namwamba demanded that the party conducts credible elections.

“It matters little to me who is favoured by the party leadership, or who serves at the elections board because I am confident of winning the SG race with a landslide,” said Namwamba.

Asked what he expected of the team, Namwamba said: “I need no favours…but I demand free, fair and credible elections.”

Pareno replaced former Bureti MP Franklin Bett, who chaired the board in the run-up to last year’s March’s General Election.

Party nominations were, however, marred with accusations of rigging and award of certificates to preferred candidates.

Mr Bett, a former Cabinet minister, has since quit the party.

Pareno now faces an uphill task to ensure that the old ghosts of messed-up elections do not re-emerge to haunt the nine-member team entrusted with delivering a refreshed leadership for the Orange party.