Sunday, August 19, 2012

ODM moves to contain discontent in Ndhiwa


ODM moves to contain discontent in Ndhiwa

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By DANIEL OTIENO danotieno@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Saturday, August 18  2012 at  18:50
IN SUMMARY
  • Earlier in the week it took police intervention to disperse rowdy youth who had blocked roads protesting voting irregularities.
  • Supporters were angered by delays in opening of polling stations, violence, candidates’ names missing from the ballot papers and partial declaration of the results.
  • Mr Jeremiah Owiti, one of the losers, said it was not proper for the party to declare a winner without announcing what the other candidates had got.
Monday’s ODM nomination in Ndhiwa constituency left the party with more to ponder in the forthcoming by-elections amid open discontent among the losing candidates.
On Thursday, the party leadership summoned all the contenders who participated in the nomination to a reconciliation meeting at Orange House to try to whip them to back the party’s candidate.
Sources who attended the meeting said the losers insisted that it was impossible to pick a popular candidate in the circumstances in which the exercise was carried out.
On Wednesday, The National Alliance (TNA) party held its nomination in the same constituency in an exercise that must have made ODM candidates envious.
The results from the polling centres were transmitted both to the tallying centre at the constituency headquarters and the head office in Nairobi in real time.
Nyanza TNA coordinator Hezbon Omollo said that they had received overtures from some of the ODM losers suggesting they were willing to back the party’s candidate.
However, the Sunday Nation could not independently verify this claim. (READ: Ndhiwa losers demand recount)
Mrs Rose Rumo Atieno, 35, is set to fly TNA’s flag in the by-election after beating two other candidates. She was previously associated with Kanu.
Kanu has handed a direct nomination to its long-serving member, Mr Tom Alila, who is also the Football Kenya Federation’s Nyanza representative.
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Mr Neto is, however, exuding confidence that the by-election for him would be a formality and that he has already started reaching out to the various groups in the constituency for support.
“We need to improve the infrastructure and education urgently and I am already mobilising the community on how best to go about it. In the coming week I will be meeting education stakeholders to ensure that our Standard Eight and Form Four students excel,” said Mr Neto.
He says that the mobilisation of women and youth groups would be key in achieving his vision, arguing that these demographics had in the past been locked out of the development projects.
“This is just the beginning, we are laying the foundation upon which to build greater things,” said Mr Neto.
ODM director of elections Joseph Misoi denied that there were anomalies in the voting process, arguing that the party did not declare all the results because of hostility and darkness.
“Our officers had been threatened. In fact we had to whisk some of them from the tallying centre with the help of the police because of the risks they were facing. That’s when we thought it wise that the candidates interested in knowing their results should consult us,” he said.
Earlier in the week it took police intervention to disperse rowdy youth who had blocked roads protesting voting irregularities.
Supporters were angered by delays in opening of polling stations, violence, candidates’ names missing from the ballot papers and partial declaration of the results.
Mr Jeremiah Owiti, one of the losers, said it was not proper for the party to declare a winner without announcing what the other candidates had got.
“We do not know how the decision to declare Mr Neto Oyugi the winner was arrived at yet nobody knows who the runners up was and the votes bagged. This creates a very bad image for the party,” argues Mr Owiti.
The presiding officer, Mr Alias Kenton, referred the candidates who were interested in knowing the number of votes they polled to the party headquarters in Nairobi.
Another loser Mr Michael Agwanda argues that the democratic credentials of the party had been lost  in the exercise and that would be candidates now fear that the party is not capable of holding a free and fair nomination process.
He raised concerns that the party went ahead to declare a winner yet in some polling stations voting materials were destroyed. He wondered why it took more than 12 hours to count about 7000 votes in over 100 polling stations.
While Mr Neto may appear to have a head start, how ODM handles the post-nomination campaign and how effectively TNA and Kanu strategise to clinch the seat will ultimately determine the candidate who will replace Mr Orwa Ojode who served the constituency for 19 years.

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