Raila convenes meeting to decide fate of rebel MPs

Opposition chief Raila Odinga has convened a special meeting to decide the fate of rebel Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa and her Msambweni counterpart Suleiman Dori.

The two leaders are staring at losing their Parliamentary seats after ODM Disciplinary Committee recommended they be expelled from the party for backing Deputy President William Ruto’s candidature.

The outfit’s National Executive Council has summoned Jumwa and Dori to appear before it next week Thursday to defend themselves.

The council will thereafter make a decision on whether to expel them or not, in what will have major political ramification in their future engagement.

ODM Chairman John Mbadi said the special sitting will hand the politicians opportunity to have their say before the party’s top organ decides on their fate.

The Thursday meeting will be preceded by yet another meeting of the party’s Central Management Committee on Tuesday, which will also be chaired by the former premier.

Should the organ agree with the Disciplinary Committee recommendations to have them expelled, the matter will be referred to the party’s Governing Council to make the final verdict.

The decision of the Governing Council will then be communicated to the Registrar of Political Parties to kick of the process of having the MPs lose their seats in Parliament.

“The MPs have been summoned to appear before NEC on January 24. The meeting will either approve their expulsion or disagree with the report. But the final decision will be made by the National Governing Council,” said Mbadi.

The process is, however, long and tedious as the rebels are allowed to exhaust all appeal mechanisms from the Political Parties Tribunal up to the Supreme Court.

It is not the first time ODM is seeking to expel rebel leaders from its ranks as it unsuccessfully gone through the process in the run up to last year's polls.