Raila, Mudavadi teams split over new party rules

By MOSES NJAGIH and VITALIS KIMUTAI

Supporters of Prime Minister Raila Odinga and his deputy in the Orange Democratic Movement party will today (Monday) bargain over proposed nominations rules the Sabatia MP is said to be uncomfortable with.

It is expected that the rising rivalry between the two leaders seeking ODM’s presidential ticket, will play out during ODM National Executive Council (NEC) meeting Monday.

The meeting will discuss proposed amendments to the party’s election and nomination rules drafted by an internal legal team. Among the proposals on the table is the raising of nomination fees for presidential aspirants to Sh4 million, and Sh300,000 for each seeker of ODM’s sponsorship ticket for Governor and Senate seat. It is also proposed that those seeking parliamentary seats should each pay Sh200,000.

Nomination fees for Women County Representative are pegged at Sh100,000, County Assembly seat Sh20,000 and youth and persons with disabilities set at Sh75, 000.

ODM Secretary General Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o confirmed the meeting would be held at the party’s headquarters this afternoon.

"You (media) people are free to come and see how fairly and openly discuss our issues," Nyong’o said on the telephone.

Mudavadi’s team claimed that the agenda of the NEC meeting "was faulty and suspect", but chose to keep the DPM’s name out of it so as not be seen to be antagonising Raila, whom he deputises both in Government and party.

"The meeting has been called in bad faith and we suspect that it is meant to contain the Deputy Prime Minister whose popularity has been growing across the country," claimed an MP close to Mudavadi.

Mudavadi’s side dismissed the proposed changes to the nomination rules as drafted by the legal committee, particularly on the presidential candidate nomination, claiming they were meant to "shower up" numbers for Raila.

He faulted the work of the legal committee, accusing it of making "isolated" amendments to the nomination and election rules instead of advocating for amending the party’s Constitution.

He said that all members of the legal committee are aligned to the PM, and could therefore not be trusted to come up with fair nomination rules. Members of this committee are Mr Tom Kajwang’, Mrs Janet Ongera, Mr Mwekesa Eboso, Mr Mugambi Imanyara, Mr Joseph Kiangoi, Mr Paul Mwangi (legal adviser to the PM) and a Mrs Pareno.

Election rules

The MP argues that the review of the party’s Constitution should take precedence over amendments to the nomination and election rules being pushed by the legal committee.

"Party nomination rules cannot be done outside the total overhaul of the party Constitution to align it with the Kenya’s new Constitution, and the Political Parties Act and Elections Act," he said.

They also challenged the mandate of the NEC to ratify the work of the legal committee, claiming it was not properly constituted since it was only supposed to serve as a transitional body. Mudavadi and his team further argued that some NEC members are no longer legitimate as they were voted out in the recent grassroots elections. "Others, like provincial representatives, are redundant given that the representation is now by county," they argued.

They added that as an interim or transitory organ, the current NEC could at best only supervise the review of the party’s Constitution, after which new structures can be put in place. Mudavadi and his group punched holes in the proposals made by the legal committee, including those seeking to ensure cost-effective means of nominations and commencement of the recruitment drive, terming them half-baked.

"Recruitment of members has been sabotaged before, so what guarantee is there that the party will succeed this time? Every time the party attempts registration at party election time, the party leader unilaterally orders people to use IDs and voters cards as identities to membership," they claimed.

They also dismissed the recommendation that candidates be nominated through universal suffrage, arguing that the system would be a sham, as the party does not have any bona fide register for members.

"Universal suffrage at any level for nomination is deceit. The party does not have any bona fide registers for members. The only legitimate members so far are the newly elected officials at the grassroots. Universal suffrage is therefore a euphemism to shower up compliant numbers for a particular presidential aspirant," they argued.

East African Cooperation Minister Musa Sirma said what the party was doing was nothing new because the making of important decisions start with NEC and Parliamentary Group and asked Mudavadi not to panic.

Guerilla tactics

Sirma claimed Mudavadi was employing guerilla tactics in his campaign for the party’s presidential ticket. "Mudavadi’s group has not been attending crucial meetings where the proposed changes in the party’s Constitution are made. They have simply been not interested and it beats logic how the changes they are proposing would be captured when they do not bring them," Sirma said.

Sirma said the party’s leadership was not dictatorial as was being claimed, and that as a demonstration of the democratic space, Raila and Mudavadi were battling it out for the party’s presidential ticket.

Mr Micah Kigen, who is vice chairman of Friends of Raila — a lobby group associated with the PM — told The Standard that Mudavadi and his allies were out to rock the ODM from within. "It is clear that Mudavadi has been sponsored by forces who want to ensure that ODM is portrayed in negative light ahead of the next General Election," Kigen claimed.

Mudavadi, however, is on record saying he is his own man and is not out to destabilise ODM.

The legal committee has come up with proposals for changing the processes for nominating the party’s presidential candidate, and offers three options of picking one. They are a national Electoral College, county Electoral College and universal suffrage.

Under the first option, the committee recommends the expansion of the national Electoral College to 5,249 members, including all the 27 NEC members, MPs, members of the party’s Standing Committee, 20 members from each county representing the Orange Young Democrats, and an equal number to represent the Orange Women Democrats.

The proposal also includes 20 mainstream delegates from every branch Executive Committee and eight delegates from all the 290 sub-branches. For the second option, the committee recommends that 60 Location or Ward Steering Committee officials converge at a central place in every Constituency to constitute an Electoral College, and elect their presidential candidate.

The other alternative is a recommendation that 60 delegates from each constituency comprising of all members of the sub-branches’ Orange Women Democrat League and Orange Youth Democrat League converge at a central place in the County to constitute an Electoral College to elect their presidential candidate.

Under the universal suffrage option, the committee proposes that ODM members converge at their sub-location levels and elect the candidate.