Warning as more leaders quit ODM race

Those who have quit race.

By STANDARD TEAM

Kenya: An ODM heavyweight has warned that the way aspirants from Luo Nyanza have been elbowed out of leadership positions could haunt the party.

Rongo MP Dalmas Otieno said ODM leader Raila Odinga had blocked him from contesting for a leadership position, and accused him of interfering with the upcoming party elections.

It came on a day that Nairobi Governor Evans Kidero and nominated Senator Janet Ong’era became the latest to withdraw from the race for party posts.

Kidero and Ong’era had intended to contest the deputy chairperson’s position. Dalmas and MPs John Mbadi (Suba) and Ken Obura (Kisumu Central), who have too given up on their candidatures, were eyeing the secretary-general’s position.

On Thursday, Dalmas, a close ally of Raila, alleged that the former prime minister personally summoned him and cautioned him against running for any seat in the party elections due on February 28.

In a bare-knuckled attack on Raila, two days after he announced he had quit the contest, Dalmas claimed Raila told him to abandon his bid so as to give way to some people he was preparing to groom.

The former Public Service minister claimed Raila was imposing his favorites on the party leadership against the will of democracy.

“The seats were supposed to be democratically contested because all the people believe in fairness and they have faithfully worked for the party and blocking them from continuing to participate effectively on party matters will cost us future victory,” Dalmas told The Standard by telephone Thursday.

BUNDLED OUT

Dalmas claimed he was against dictatorship by the party leadership, especially in the manner in which aspirants from Luo Nyanza were being bundled out of the race.

If ODM stood for democracy, then there wouldn’t have been any candidate favoured by the party leader for any of the seats up for grabs, he added.

He said it was ironical the way Raila was acting against Luo Nyanza MPs on the pretext that they wanted to portray ODM as a tribal outfit yet he “was the one who was actually tribalising the party.”

He cautioned the ODM leadership against imposing leaders against the will of party members, saying it would undermine the party.

But Orange House yesterday clarified that although Dalmas and Dr Kidero had expressed interest in the positions, neither had picked nomination papers.

“We handle information that is communicated to the party through proper channels. The two did not pick nomination papers or return any,” ODM executive director Magerer Lang’at told The Standard.

It was not immediately clear whether Dalmas’ sentiments were a pointer to discontent harboured by those who had withdrawn from the contest.

Ms Ong’era, who served as ODM executive director until her nomination to the Senate, said: “I am not aware of any pressure from the party leader or any quarters to have anyone step down. This decision is purely my own.”

Ong’era, however, protested that the ODM constitution had been mutilated to lock out majority of women from attending the NDC.

She said this might deny the party the ability to meet the two-thirds gender rule as stipulated in the Constitution.

TOP POSITION

Ong’era said her decision was informed by the desire to have a politician from the Kisii community clinch a top position in the Orange party.

She hopes to boost the chances of MPs Simon Ogari (Bomachoge Chache) and Timothy Bosire (Kitutu Masaba) to clinch the position of party treasurer.

“I am urging my brothers Ogari and Bosire to sit and agree on who among them should go for the position of party treasurer in the interest of our party and community unity,” she added.

Mbadi explained that he quit the race to allow the leadership of the party to reflect a national image. 

“I have not been pressured by anyone, including the party leader. I decided to pull out because some people had started branding the party tribal with claims that leaders from Luo Nyanza were trying to own the party,” said Mbadi

“What is wrong with leaders or aspirants meeting and agreeing you take this, you take that? The bottom line is to keep the party together and united,” he said.

Obura could not be reached yesterday. But when he withdrew, he had said: “I have been approached and talked to and after wide consultation and soul-searching, I have decided to step down because the party is bigger than any one of us.”

Announcing his withdrawal, Dr Kidero said: “I am quitting to give young party members an opportunity to lead and help rebuild our party.”

Reporting by Stanley Ongwae, Geoffrey Mosoku and James Mbaka