Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Is all well for ODM in Rift Valley and beyond?








By Beauttah Omanga
Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s party is quietly on the mend to avoid any further fallout among its members as it consolidates its shaky base in Rift Valley ahead of the next General Election.
To regain lost ground, ODM is nowbanking on the support of the rebel MPs’ opponents in their respective constituencies to re-popularise the party in the region.
The party intends to allocate loyal MPs led by Kipkelion’s Langat Magerer and Musa Sirma more responsibility to rebuild its base facing a major threat from Eldoret North MP William Ruto’s team.
Magerer is among those rumoured for elevation to a full ministerial portfolio thanks to his commitment to Raila’s political course at a time when majority of his colleagues are in Ruto’s camp. Magerer, in his late 30s, might be rewarded as a means of attracting more youth to the party.
Assistant Minister Joseph Nanok told The Standard that the PM’s party is not shaken an inch since "we have enough arsenal politically to regain whatever the party might have lost".
Party to beat
According to Nanok and Energy Assistant Minister Magerer, the forthcoming party elections will see more genuine party members being recruited and sober leaders elected. "Through the elections, the ODM will have strong leaders, who are principled and who believe in fair play, but not fellows who have no principles as we have experienced in the past," said Magerer.
Magerer and Nanok both dispelled fears that the rebel MPs all allied to the suspended Education Minister will have any influence in the party’s elections.
"I don’t think they will interfere with the party elections for they have declared they are headed elsewhere and they better focus their attention there," said Magerer.
Nanok said ODM is still very strong thanks to the opinion polls conducted fortnightly and that it will remain a party to beat. "In the Diaspora, ODM enjoys massive support since those Kenyans will be voting in the next elections and they have identified with ODM because of what it stands for," he said.
Two other leading party officials, Joseph Nkaissery and Margaret Wanjiru, said a resolution has been reached by the party leadership to stop forthwith any insults among the officials and instead a more sober approach be employed in addressing any differences.
"I personally raised concern about the dangers of public insults and we agreed that as a party no more of such should be experienced. We need to tone down our internal feuds and focus more on implementation of the new Constitution, which the party promised Kenyans," said Bishop Wanjiru.
She went on: "I have told the party leaders to sober up and stop being hyper on issues. We must realise we need each other, we must respect each other and give each other space as we engage each other as a team."
Small hiccups
Wanjiru, who is now emerging as the face of the party in Nairobi County, said it was disturbing that the party top officials would take on each other to the chagrin of party members.
But Magerer and ODM Bonchari MP Charles Onyancha are still convinced that all is well in the Raila-led party in Rift Valley and beyond, and that the defections were small hiccups that will not have much negative impact on their leader.
"ODM is still the party of the moment and the PM remains a man to beat. All the rest (presidential aspirants) combined do not even measure to his popularity," Onyancha told Tuesday Politics.
The Bonchari and Kipkelion MPs said the PM was still popular even before he starts addressing rallies to market his candidature for 2012 in Rift Valley.
"It is clear that the chicken of the PM’s opponents are coming home to roost. They are in a panic. They lack credible candidates and credentials. Kenyans will never accept (water)melons out to derail the Constitution for their own gain. ODM and the PM shall prevail," Onyancha added.
Winning strategy
A party official, Joseph Misoi, also claimed ODM was still a party of choice and that it was only the less competitive, non-democrats within the party who were rebelling and realists forming alliances.
Dr Misoi claimed ODM has a secret winning strategy that will take its critics by surprise and that the Kalenjin-Kikuyu alliance will not hold until land injustices were addressed.
But MPs allied to Ruto — Joshua Kuttuny and Julius Kones — are convinced that by the next elections, ODM will not exist.
"We are not even in campaign period and people are still deserting the PM and his party. What will remain of ODM by 2012," posed Dr Kones. Mr Kuttuny said talk of the PM thinking of rallying behind another candidate in next year’s presidential race was a pointer to how bad things had become and the dark and bleak future for the party.
"The party is no more. It only has a few members while those who gave it a national face are all gone. The party is very unpopular now to a point that it has been forced to postpone grassroots elections several times," claimed the Cherengany legislator.
Kuttuny said the party was in a state of confusion as sitting MPs still allied to Raila are scared of losing the party management to their opponents.
Yesterday Nkaissery declined to disclose the party’s mending strategy to avoid any further fallout and how it intended to handle the forthcoming by-elections. "Those other details are party secrets which cannot be made public through the media. We are working on an elaborate mechanism that will see party unity taken to another level," said the minister.
Wanjiru also echoed Nkaissery’s assurance that all was well in the party and that nobody should expect any further fallout. "As a party we are looking into the future and how to take the party to another level. In politics there are no permanent friends or enemies. Don’t be surprised to see a stronger ODM than it is now," said the Starehe MP.

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