Raila's ODM party forms 'war council' to tackle Jubilee

Jubilee ‘propaganda’Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) yesterday formed a 10-15 member committee dubbed the ‘war council’ to take on Jubilee on matters of national interest.

This was revealed following a three-hour meeting of the party’s National Executive Committee attended by party leader Raila Odinga at Orange House.

Sources at the meeting said the ‘war council’ will be mandated to put the Jubilee administration to task over issues affecting the country.

The committee, whose membership is yet to be decided, will also be charged with defending the position of the party on any matter.

“As party members, the party leader encouraged us to open fire and return fire, because Jubilee has

declared war on us. The idea is to revitalise the structures within the political parties so that we can win this battle in 2017,” said a senior Orange MP who attended the meeting.

“The team will remain secret, because from our experience, every time we have them publicly known, it becomes easy for the Jubilee honchos to target them and entice and even compromise them. We don’t want that,” said the MP who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The idea ‘war council’ was mooted following the failure by the party’s rapid response team to tackle burning issues on the national front.

“The party leader was upset that the rapid response team was dead. He said they must wake up,” said another MP who attended the meeting.

“The message to all of us is that henceforth, we should work as a team. He doesn’t want to see people firing in the dark and shooting alone. He wants all cylinders of the party to fire in a co-ordinated manner,” said the MP.

Key agenda of the committee will be to take the anti-corruption crusade to Jubilee’s doorstep.

The Orange party also threw its weight behind their leader Raila Odinga’s demand that the Government explain how proceeds from the Eurobond was spent, the projects it was allocated to and who looted what.

Raila’s three-day deadline to Director of Public Prosecution Keriako Tobiko to reveal Eurobond cash suspects expires today. The former Prime Minister promised to reveal the names behind the scandal after the expiry of the deadline.

ODM Secretary General Ababu Namwamba insisted that the Jubilee administration owes the truth to Kenyans, adding that the truth about the controversial Eurobond funds will be laid bare.

“The Pope, his cardinals, bishops, high priests, deacons and arch-deacons of corruption should tell Kenyans what happened with the Eurobond cash,” said Namwamba.

The party also promised to revisit the Chickengate scandal and take appropriate legal action on the Kenyan suspects involved. Smith & Ouzman, the London-based security printer convicted of bribing Kenyan election and examination officials, was fined £2.2 million (Sh357 million).

The party is also up in arms over claims that the electoral agency intends to favour Jubilee zones by assigning more Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits compared to Coalition for Reforms and Democracy zones.

“We smell a rat in the whole process of the forthcoming voter registration. IEBC is aware of our concerns but has chosen to ignore. ODM will not allow that... the commission could be party to a conspiracy for early rigging of the 2017 General Election,” said Namwamba.

Namwamba rejected the plan by IEBC to conduct voter registration at ward level with only two BVR kits manned by only two clerks per ward.

Party chairman John Mbadi questioned why the Issack Hassan-led commission is insisting on conducting voter registration at ward level and not polling station.

Mbadi said that the Commission has not been genuine in its operations, saying that IEBC is yet to formally write to National Assembly’s Justice and Legal Affairs committee on the challenges they are facing.

“We are dealing with a commission that is not genuine. IEBC has not formally written to the Justice and Legal affairs committee on their financial constraints,” said Mbadi.