By FRANCIS MUREITHI fmureithi@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Saturday, November 12 2011 at 23:12
Posted Saturday, November 12 2011 at 23:12
As the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party prepares for grassroots elections on November 24, Nakuru is one county where observers will be keenly following the polls.
With the election year only two months away, the one question that is troubling ODM in the county is whether the party will end the jinx of losing the seat to PNU.
The party is strategising to field strong candidates in the 2012 General Election.
In the cosmopolitan Nakuru Town constituency, ODM is the only party that has a sizeable number of supporters across the tribal divide.
And observers believe that with proper planning the party stands a good chance of winning the elusive parliamentary seat.
ODM lost by a huge margin in the last General Election, which they blamed on fielding a weak candidate, and many analysts in the region believe the game will change if ODM picks a strong candidate to face the PNU candidate.
The elections are expected to be the most competitive since independence, and if the party makes the same mistake of fielding a weak candidate, it may as well kiss any hopes of ever winning a parliamentary seat in the county goodbye.
The recent ODM victory in mayoral elections in Nakuru municipality has encouraged the Orange party to shop for a strong candidate.
This is the first time in the history of Nakuru town that a candidate perceived to be in the opposition managed to win the mayoral seat.
Since Independence
Already prominent businessmen allied to PNU are burning the midnight oil trying to map out a strategy to block ODM from grabbing the parliamentary seat.
During the first parliamentary elections held at independence in 1963, Ramogi Achieng Oneko won the Nakuru Town constituency seat.
He was the first non-Kikuyu to win the seat and was appointed minister for Information and Tourism by President Jomo Kenyatta.
Dr Lwali Oyondi, who was swept into power by the Ford Asili wave in 1992, and Mr William Komen, who was elected in a by-election in 1975 after the incumbent Mark Mwithaga was jailed, are the other non-Kikuyus who have occupied the seat for the last 48 years.
Mr Lee Kinyanjui, who is an assistant minister for Roads, is the current MP.
Other former Nakuru Town MPs include Mr Amos Kimemia, Mr David Manyara, and Mr Mirugi Kariuki, who was succeeded by his son Kariuki Mirugi in a by-election after he was involved in a plane crash in Marsabit.
The town is dominated by the Kikuyu, but if the recent unity between ODM and PNU councillors in the municipal council is any guide, then it will not be a walk in the park for candidates who have depended on their ethnic numbers to win the seat.
According to ODM operatives in the region, some of the wealthy and influential Kikuyu businessmen are eyeing the seat on an ODM ticket.
Councillor Mohammed Suraw of ODM is currently the mayor of the town, and his victory is said to have lifted the party leadership’s spirits and is now plotting for the parliamentary seat
“We are not stopping at the mayoral victory. We shall only be satisfied if ODM captures the Nakuru Town constituency seat,” said ODM co-ordinator in the area, Mr William Atinga.
And even as ODM celebrates victory, the question that many analysts are asking is whether the party will maintain its new-found unity as the election date nears.
In the last General Election, ODM candidate Mike Brawan trailed Mr Kinyanjui with 42,000 votes against the latter’s 52,000.
“We want to translate our new- found unity into an ODM victory in the Nakuru Town parliamentary election,” said Mr Brawan, who is a nominated councillor.
Other former Nakuru Town MPs include Mr Amos Kimemia, Mr David Manyara, and Mr Mirugi Kariuki, who was succeeded by his son Kariuki Mirugi in a by-election after he was involved in a plane crash in Marsabit.
The town is dominated by the Kikuyu, but if the recent unity between ODM and PNU councillors in the municipal council is any guide, then it will not be a walk in the park for candidates who have depended on their ethnic numbers to win the seat.
According to ODM operatives in the region, some of the wealthy and influential Kikuyu businessmen are eyeing the seat on an ODM ticket.
Councillor Mohammed Suraw of ODM is currently the mayor of the town, and his victory is said to have lifted the party leadership’s spirits and is now plotting for the parliamentary seat
“We are not stopping at the mayoral victory. We shall only be satisfied if ODM captures the Nakuru Town constituency seat,” said ODM co-ordinator in the area, Mr William Atinga.
And even as ODM celebrates victory, the question that many analysts are asking is whether the party will maintain its new-found unity as the election date nears.
In the last General Election, ODM candidate Mike Brawan trailed Mr Kinyanjui with 42,000 votes against the latter’s 52,000.
“We want to translate our new- found unity into an ODM victory in the Nakuru Town parliamentary election,” said Mr Brawan, who is a nominated councillor.
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