ODM-K to field candidate in Kamukunji by-election

By Rawlings Otieno and Athman Amran

ODM-K has endorsed Mr Yusuf Hassan Abdi to vie for a parliamentary seat in the upcoming Kamukunji by-elections.

The decision was arrived at after a National Executive Committee (NEC) and Parliamentary Group meeting held at Wiper House yesterday.

The party has opted to field its own candidate after earlier negotiations with PNU to field a single candidate under the PNU umbrella failed.

ODM-K Secretary-General and Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo said the party is fielding its own candidate as it restructures itself ahead of next year’s General Election. The Kamukunji seat fell vacant after the High Court nullified Mr Simon Mbugua’s election citing election malpractices in the 2007 polls.

ODM-K Secretary-General and Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo (left) with the party’s Kamukunji candidate, Yusuf Hassan Abdi, as he addresses the Press outside party headquarters in Nairobi, Tuesday. [PHOTO: ANN KAMONI/STANDARD]

Mutula said it was high time PNU supported them in the by-election, adding that Mr Yusuf stood a chance of winning the seat.

"The time to support us is now, enough is enough," said Mutula.

The minister said that if PNU refused to offer its support, it risked being embarrassed like had happened in the Wajir South by-election, which was won by an ODM-K candidate after a battle with Kanu.

Brace for change

Yusuf said it was time the electorate in Kamukunji braced for change. He promised that if he was elected, he would empower the youth by offering them training in acquiring entrepreneurial skills. He also promised to look into their socio-political welfare.

The former senior adviser to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said he was not entering politics for the money, but to offer service to the citizens, adding that Kamukunji constituency had been neglected for a long time.

Yusuf, who has degrees in Political Science and Public Administration from University of London, and one in Law and International Diplomacy from Fletcher School in Boston, said he was popular among the electorate by virtue of having lived in Nairobi.