ODM yesterday postponed its national executive council meeting for the third time amid escalating tensions in the party over the method for nominating the presidential candidate. The meeting originally scheduled for today will now be held on Wednesday next week. According to a short text message sent to NEC members by ODM secretary general Prof Anyang' Nyong'o, the meeting was postponed to allow the ongoing party recruitment exercise to continue uninterrupted.
The NEC meeting has been postponed three times this month. Tensions have been escalating between supporters of Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his deputy Musalia Mudavadi over the method to be used in selecting the ODM presidential candidate. Raila favours a national delegates conference whereas Mudavadi wants secret ballot of delegates at county level.
Yesterday, Raila announced the appointment of veteran civil servant James Omariba Ongwae as his chief campaign manager and head of the Raila presidential campaign secretariat. Media consultant and newspaper columnist Barrack O. Muluka will be his national director in charge of communications at the secretariat.
A statement from Raila's office said "further appointments of men and women of unquestionable integrity and commitment to Kenya" will be made in the near future. "Raila naming his presidential campaign team makes the fight over the method of internal party selection an exercise in futility. This could be the final split in ODM," said a political commentator yesterday.
During next week's meeting, the NEC will discuss the method the party will use in nominating its presidential candidate. Today's NEC meeting was called off after Mudavadi and his camp became uneasy over reports that Raila had summoned the party elections board on Tuesday to consider repeat polls in 15 branches, according to multiple sources.
Among the branches were Matungu in Kakamega held by Mudavadi's ally David Were, Nairobi, Kuria, North Mugirango, Malindi, Gwasi, Kathiani and Kirinyaga. The Tuesday meeting at the Office of the Prime Minister was attended by Raila, Nyong'o, elections board chairman Philip Okundi, board secretary Joseph Misoi, board member Judy Pareno, Raila's political adviser Adhu Awiti and the PM's private secretary Caroli Omondi.
The meeting apparently resolved to have the results of elections in 15 sub-branches and branches reviewed in order to bring harmony to the party. It recommended that repeat elections be held in some branches. One election board member, Charles Werangai, said he had been informed of the meeting but not invited. "Ask them why l was not invited," Werangai said.
Misoi confirmed the board had held another meeting at Orange House on Wednesday chaired by Okundi but declined to comment about the meeting with Raila. He said the purpose of the Wednesday meeting was to seek ways of mending the differences between party delegates in the disputed areas. “This policy of the winner-takes-it-all sometimes ends up weakening the party and it's true we are looking at ways of accommodating those who lost. But I can assure you there will be no repeat polls,” he said.
However, Mudavadi's allies remain unhappy about the frequent postponements of NEC which they claimed were part of a wider scheme to sabotage plans to mend the contentious clause in the ODM constitution that says the party leader automatically becomes the presidential candidate. That clause would prevent Mudavadi's from offering himself as a possible presidential candidate for ODM.
Next Wednesday's NEC meeting will discuss whether the nomination of the presidential candidate should be done at county level or through the traditional national delegates conference as stipulated in the party constitution. Mudavadi wants county electoral colleges fearing manipulation of the national delegates conference while Raila believes country elections could be infiltrated by outsiders.
Other sources said the postponement of the meeting was to allow for private discussions to reach a compromise over these two issues before they are presented to the NEC. The Mudavadi camp confirmed that two of Raila's close allies had attempted to persuade Mudavadi to drop his demands but he had dismissed them.
Mudavadi also declined to have the two issues addressed by the rapid response team, an ad hoc group of party officials chaired by Westlands MP Fred Gumo that is supposed to advise the PM. Mudavadi has insisted that the issues in dispute can only be addressed through recognised party institutions.
Next Wednesday's meeting will also prepare an agenda for the impending national delegates conference that was supposed to be held at the end of this month. The new date of the delegates conference is yet to be announced. This Saturday Mudavadi heads to Raila's home region of Luo Nyanza for a four day tour starting from Homa Bay this Saturday then head to Migori, Siaya and ending in Kisumu. He will be meeting ODM delegates.
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