ODM needs to get its house in order

Kenya: After the Orange Democratic Movement party (ODM) held its grassroot elections, anxiety remained high among its supporters in its strongholds.

There were reports of elections being marred with irregularities and violence, however, the party elections board has denied the claims.

In the recent past, the party supporters have remained in a state of confusion as different lists were being presented to the media.

The state of confusion that has rocked the Orange party is worrying and supporters are left wondering whether the party will remain united after the official list is formally made public.

Consequently ODM must be in a position to answer the following questions: Were grassroot elections done in a democratic manner as contained in the party constitution? Were elections closely supervised by the legitimate officials? Did the party take these elections seriously? Has it learnt from its previous mistakes? Was democracy given priority in the exercise?

ODM is known to be one of the most popular parties and any failure in it symbolises a setback in CORD.

I feel the party was not ready for serious grassroots elections. Before conducting the elections, the National Elections Board should have been proactive and ensured that civic education was done in all the regions.

The NEB also ought to have done a feasibility study and seek the public opinion about the elections.

For CORD to clinch power in 2017, ODM which is its main affiliate party, must solidly get backing from its stronghold regions like Nyanza.

That dream shall only come true if ODM corrects its past mistakes.