Mudavadi team outlines key poll demands

BY BEAUTTAH OMANGA

Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi’s campaign team listed issues they addressed by the ODM secretariat to ensure a free and fair presidential nomination process.

The team of 12 MPs and 22 professionals met in Nairobi last week and outlined matters to be addressed at the next National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.

The group said a contentious article purporting the party leader is the automatic presidential candidate was an embarrassment to a party professing democracy, as it is akin to the section 2A under notorious Kanu.

Mudavadi wants presidential nominations be conducted at the county level but he is still open to new ideas on nominations.

"The 60 sub-branch officials per constituency will form the branch Electoral College and vote at a single polling station at the county because there will be 47 polling stations voting on the same day," said an MP who attended the meeting.

The group resolved not to hold joint rallies with Raila as it would cause disharmony in the party.

"Registration of members must be transparent and full disclosure facilitated by the secretariat including financial matters," an MP disclosed.

They further demanded that the party removes fro the constitution a clause that makes the party leader an automatic presidential candidate. Vihiga MP Yusuf Chanzu confirmed the review meeting took place but clarified it was never meant to cause more rifts between Mudavadi and Raila.

Party finances

"It is normal for any group with similar thinking to meet and evaluate some things. It was for the interests of the party that we met. Our advice to colleagues in ODM is to stop being rigid. Let them have a flexible mind and give democracy a chance," he said. Chanzu said the party’s finances must also be made public as well as the delegates list for the presidential nominations.

"We are not saying there is already interference, but given the delegates were elected in broad daylight, why not make the list known," he said.

"Elections can build or diminish the popularity of the party and its candidate. We must be ready to change our constitution to avoid such eventualities," he said.

Asked whether Mudavadi would decamp from ODM, Chanzu said it was too early to make conclusions.

"Look at President Kibaki, he started at DP, joined Narc and he has retired through PNU," he said.

He said those campaigning for Mudavadi were keenly listening to voices of Kenyans who want him elected ODM flag bearer.

"Like a cyclist, if you are riding a bicycle and you approach a corner, you can not afford to be rigid while negotiating the corner," said Chanzu. Chanzu said there was need for the auditing of the accounts to clear fears that some candidates were being supported at the expense of their competitors.

The team noted that ODM NEC was not properly constitutedas some had been appointed despite still in public service. They opposed the attendance of NEC meetings by none members. "These non-NEC members make the most partisan contributions particularly public officers from the PM’s office."

Speaking in Nyandarua on Saturday, Mudavadi said the current ODM constitution was drafted with the old Kenya constitution in mind.

"We have a new dispensation but some of us are stuck in the past. The ODM constitution is aligned to the old Kenyan constitution," said Mudavadi.

NEW ERA

"Reform and change should not be mere words but must mean something in the way we conduct our affairs," he said. The team expressed concern over the circulation of versions of the party constitution.

"There are several versions with contentious and contradictory articles and clauses. A new soft copy shows attempts to amend several areas," minutes from the meeting availed to The Standard read in part.