ANC candidate for Matungu mini-poll causes disquiet as rivals fight back

Matungu branch ODM Chairman Paul Posho (left). [Benjamin Sakwa, Standard]

Fear of losing the Matungu parliamentary seat is said to have informed ANC’s decision to handpick its candidate for the March 4 by-election.

The Musalia Mudavadi-led party is facing stiff competition in its efforts to retain the seat left vacant by the late Justus Murunga, from among others, Raila Odinga’s ODM. 

The party has settled on Peter Nabulindo -- who ran on Ford Kenya’s ticket in the 2017 General Election but lost narrowly to Murunga -- to be the party’s flag bearer.

ANC is confident its candidate will deliver the seat as he appears to enjoy support from the majority Bashitsetse clan of the Wanga, one of the sub-tribes of Luhya.

Mudavadi is not leaving anything to chance given ODM and Jubilee are plotting how they will snatch the seat. On Saturday, six ANC lawmakers held a closed-door meeting at Nabulindo’s Ejinja home and emerged to announce they had endorsed him for the seat.

Meeting attended

The night meeting was attended by Kakamega Senator Cleophas Malala, MPs Sakwa Bunyasi (Nambale), Titus Khamala (Lurambi), Alfred Agoi (Sabatia), Ayub Savula (Lugari) and Edward Kaunya (Teso North).

The politicians said they wanted to ensure they beat today’s deadline issued by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, when political parties must have submitted names of candidates participating in their primaries.

The leaders said they endorsed Nabulindo with Mudavadi’s blessing. The candidate will be handed his nomination certificate today.

The MPs were optimistic Nabulindo would win the seat, saying they were banking on his popularity in the area.

“We have done our survey and with our party leader’s blessing, we have endorsed the popular Nabulindo as our preferred candidate,” said Malala.

He said their intention was to retain the seat and having Nabulindo, who came second to Murunga in 2017, gives ANC an upper hand ahead of the by-election. Nabulindo garnered 10,636 votes against Murunga’s 18,088. David Were managed 8,618 votes to finish third.

Campaigns because

“ANC will bankroll our candidate’s campaigns because we cannot afford to lose the seat,” said Savula.

Also keen to influence the outcome of the poll is Deputy President William Ruto, who has been reinvigorated by the Msambweni by-election where the Independent candidate he supported, Feisal Bader, thrashed his rivals, including ODM’s Omar Boga.

Ruto allied MPs from Western have vowed to ensure a candidate identified by the deputy president wrests the seat from ANC. But Raila has warned ODM will field a candidate in Matungu to snatch the seat from ANC’s grip.

Nabulindo was elated by his endorsement and vowed to floor his competitors. “I am happy that the party has trusted me. I will strive to consolidated Matungu’s votes by reaching out to the electorate,” he said.

But the decision to hand the ticked to Nabulindo has not gone down well with some party members who considered themselves more qualified. Some of them say Nabulindo is an outsider.

At least nine candidates were preparing for ANC party primaries only for Nabulindo to be handed the ticket. They were Asomba Nesembe, late Murunga’s wife Christabel Amunga and son Eugene Ambwere, as well as Matungu CDF chairman Athman Wangara.

Others were Auma Faida, former mayor Anzelimo Kongoti and Mombasa-based lawyer Charles Kasamani.

Nesembe, who finished second in ANC nominations ahead of 2017 elections, termed Nabulindo’s endorsement unfair and undemocratic. He said ANC members will not allow non-members to run away with the party’s ticket.

“We worked with Murunga to ensure he won the seat and as a bonafide member of ANC, I ought to have been given an opportunity,” said Nasembe.

Kasamani said ANC’s leadership should have given preference to loyalists as opposed to new entrants.

“I personally feel I am a front runner in this election and the ANC should come to the ground and give a deserving member the ticket as opposed to handing it to a newbie over the party’s life members,” said Kasamani.

A meeting where the late MP’s family was to agree on who to support between Murunga’s wife Christabel, son Eugene and Wangara flopped. Later on Friday, Murunga’s extended family endorsed Christabel to run for the seat.

Those close to Christabel told The Standard she may run as an independent candidate after her prospects of clinching the ANC ticket were scuttled.

Peter Nabulindo- ANC party ticket front runner for the March 4, 2021 Matungu by-election.

Fair nominations

“The only person who can complete the work started by the late MP is the wife. We hope the ANC primaries will be fair in their nominations and if not, Christabel will be going all the way as an independent candidate,” George Nyongesa, who was Murunga’s personal assistant, had said earlier.

Eugene and Wangara are reportedly reluctant to accept Nabulindo as the ANC candidate. Ruto’s allies are said to have been planning to support Nabulindo before ANC snatched him.

“We know Murunga was a friend of Deputy President William Ruto and it would be good if we had his successor as a person who is allied to the Tangatanga team,” said Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali.

It is also a race against time for ODM, which appears to be split between endorsing Were and Paul Achayo, who was the Orange party’s candidate in 2017.

Paul Posho, a close ally of Raila, has also shown interest in the ODM party ticket. And Ford-K National Youth leader Benard Wakoli has declared interest in the seat even though his party says it will not field a candidate.

Party leader Moses Wetang’ula said the party will support ANC’s candidate in the by-election.

But Wakoli has dismissed Wetang’ula’s statement as his personal views, saying Ford Kenya has structures through which such decisions are made.