Queries linger over ODM’s well-connected ‘Men in Black’

By Counties Team

NAIROBI, KENYA: As the Orange Democratic Party (ODM) dusts itselfy from the recent farcical and abortive elections at Kasarani Sports Gymnasium, questions linger on the men dressed in black suits who overturned tables, smashed ballot boxes and destroyed election materials.

According to multiple sources, the men are well-known and fingers point to influential party insiders. Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba, who was gunning for the post of Secretary General and other delegates said the organisers of the chaos are well-known

“The planning and execution of this violence was clear and well-known in advance. We know who hired the goons. How could they sink so low as to hire people and give them instructions to come and disrupt (the polls), they have brought shame unto our party, and we tell all of them shame on you!” Namwamba said soon after the abortive polls.

Other delegates were quick to lay blame on the party secretariat and its National Elections Board (NEB) for the chaos that rocked the elections.

“The NEB and the Secretariat hired the clerks and the private security, besides the police. They know who these people who spoiled our day are. They should carry the blame,” said a senior delegate from Nairobi County.

This is given credence by claims by an official from Nyanza who gave names of three of the goons that he could identify from television footage. According to the ODM branch official from Homa Bay County, the people whose names we have withheld are known agents of a senior party official.

Rangwe MP George Oner also alluded to such a possibility. He believes the youths may have been prepared to do some damage in case things did not go according to some hidden script. However, he could not ascertain the exact time the goons arrived at the venue. He confirmed seeing men in black providing security to the ballot boxes only to move towards where nominated MP Isaac Mwaura was shouting.

‘‘They first moved towards the podium, appeared to escort Mwaura before abandoning him and descending on the election materials,” he says.

Before trouble started, Mwaura climbed on top of one of the tables, “to attract attention because people were ignoring me. I tried talking to them, no one even cared to explain what was happening”.

Mwaura was ‘rescued’ from an agitated team of security officers who were shouting, “He wants to destroy the party!” But the men who ‘rescued’ him went ahead to destroy the ballot boxes and overturn and break tables.

Blame game

Unknown people who are believed to be part of the group that disrupted the elections accosted the MP while others proceeded to where the election materials were and started overturning tables.

Insiders say the party officials wanted to sacrifice Mwaura and give the slot to a member from the Maasai community.

Oner disclosed the name of the man who was shouting ‘No delegates list, no elections!’ According to the MP, the delegate was a Langata ODM party sub-branch official.

But who allowed the goons into the arena? Homa Bay County ODM Vice chairperson Monica Amolo believes the organisers allowed everybody into the venue including hawkers and this provided perfect cover for the goons.

“This was a recipe for chaos. Besides, there was no way of distinguishing genuine delegates from the goons,” she said.

Some of the delegates blamed a senior woman official of the election board for being directly responsible for hiring the goons.

“She was in support of one camp, but when she realised the tide was going against her team, she brought in the goons to disrupt the elections,” he said.

Also being blamed is a male member of the board from Nyanza region who at the time of voting gave ballots to delegates and ordered them to vote for a team calling itself ‘ODM Team Fresh’.

Namwamba’s axis has been categorical that opponents must have sponsored the chaos after sensing defeat. When contacted on phone, Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho said he did not know when the goons arrived at Kasarani or who was behind the chaos.

“That is what we want to investigate,” Joho said, adding: “I don’t want to preempt the findings of a committee tasked with investigating the incident. I never witnessed any of them enter the venue.”

Jubilee’s hand

Suba MP John Mbadi declined to say much on the goons, preferring to ask:  “How can I know them? I am not National Security Intelligence Services (NSIS). Go and ask NSIS!” The fiery MP was referring to earlier speculation that the NSIS may have had advance information that the Kasarani ODM polls would be disrupted.

A former Nyanza MP who was at Kasarani as a delegate claimed the leadership of the party was aware of the goons because they had initially posed as security officers.

“They must have been bought by some candidates to monitor the situation and cause chaos when delegates started voting. The manner in which they suddenly cropped up and confused everything indicates it was carefully planned,” he said.

The former legislator who served in the 10th Parliament also blamed the uncertainty on the mode of voting and said this might have contributed to the chaos.

“NEB favoured acclamation though they publicly said they were for the secret ballot. They wanted to ambush the delegates at the last minute by voting by acclamation due to time,” he said. Two MPs who were vying for posts at the elections also pointed fingers at the party elections board. They claimed the institution partly contributed to the abortion of the election exercise.

The two said the board was compromised and favoured a particular group of contestants.

“There was a list of 23 candidates alleged to be preferred by the party, which was doing round at the polling centre. The board allowed people to campaign and some of them even gave campaign logos and posters of candidates,” one former MP said.

According to Nyalenda A Ward representative in Kisumu County, Jack Onunga, the hidden hand of Jubilee operatives in the ODM polls fiasco could not be ruled out. However, he also argued that there were ODM party youths who might have been paid by a certain ‘faction’ to disrupt the elections because of one reason or another.

He claimed he knew youths for hire who could run from ODM to Jubilee and back to do hatchet jobs, depending on who was paying and how much was offered to them.