Confusion marred ODM nomination exercise conducted in Kibra Constituency yesterday to choose the party’s candidate for the November 7 by-election that will pit opposition leader Raila Odinga against Deputy President William Ruto in yet another political duel.
A number of voters who turned up early to choose their preferred candidate failed to cast their ballots on account of their names missing from the voters’ register provided by the party.
Among those affected were some aspirants such as Brian Owino, whose name was missing from the initial register provided and was only able to cast his vote when a second list was provided.
Missing names
“There are voters whose names are missing in the register yet they voted here in the last election,” he said.
Such was the scenario in majority polling centres at Makina, Lindi, Sarango’mbe and Laini Saba wards in the constituency.
In most polling centres, there was a mix up between the names and the ID numbers and voters were unaware whether the party relied on its own roll of members or the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) list of registered voters.
At polling centres such as Ayany Primary School, balloting had not started by 1pm. Not far from Ayany at Olympic Primary School, the voting started early but only a handful of voters had cast their ballot on account of the majority missing their names in the voters register.
The dejected voters assembled outside the polling centres after communication from the ODM National Election Board that a backup party list would be provided.
Some 10 candidates were on the ballot papers yesterday, hopeful that they would clinch the ticket to face Amani National Congress’ Eliud Owalo and Jubilee’s MacDonald Mariga to succeed Ken Okoth who died last month.
The candidates were Stephen Okello, Christone Odhiambo (Kriss Darlin), Peter Orero (Mwalimu), Tony Ogola Sine, Reuben Ojijo, Erick Ochieng’, Brian Owino, Benson Musungu, John Otieno and Bernard Okoth.
In spite of the hiccups, the exercise was conducted devoid of violence.
Nonetheless, the setbacks are likely to raise questions on credibility of the exercise even as some aspirants anonymously claimed there had been attempts to have them stand down.
“We were called by Orange House and told to drop out of the race and support one of the candidates, and now people have been prevented from voting. We suspect that this contest has a pre-determined outcome,” one aspirant said.
The mini poll is testing ground for last year’s March 2 handshake between Raila and President Uhuru Kenyetta on one hand, and Ruto’s 2022 presidential ambitions on the other.
Already, the two factions within the Jubilee Party are showing, with some leaders openly declaring they will campaign for the ODM candidate in the spirit of the handshake.
For Raila and his party, the by-election on November 7 is a do-or-die battle. If ODM losses the seat, it could signal a waning influence in city politics for Raila and an ascendancy of DP Ruto’s in the perceived strongholds of other political leaders.
In a meeting with the candidates and the ODM Election Board on Thursday, the party leader did not hide the fact that his political image could be dented by a loss of the seat.
Humiliating defeat
Raila told the contestants that the primaries will be free and fair to give ODM a candidate that will win the seat back.
Ruto, his political friend-turned-nemesis has not hidden his desire to wrestle the seat from ODM.
ODM has lost twice in by-elections in Ugenya and Embakasi South. In Embakasi South, Ruto threw his weight behind Wiper candidate Julius Mawathe, who went ahead to push his re-election after his victory had been successfully challenged by former MP Imrad Sumra of ODM.
But it is in Ugenya constituency that the party suffered a humiliating defeat after it lost the seat to David Ochieng of the little know MDP party who trounced Chris Karan, the former ODM MP who won the seat in 2017.
ODM had claimed that the contest in Ugenya was not between Karan and Ochieng but that of Raila and Ruto. Again, if the Orange party allegations were true, then Ruto won.
Ruto will today visit Kibra with Mariga, the Jubilee candidate, as part of the campaigns even as other Jubilee Party leaders such as former Starehe MP Maina Kamanda vowed to support ODM’s candidate.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna said his party was prepared to face off with all other outfits in Kibra.
“Once we deal with nominations in the right way, and every one is content with the process, we will then have an easy time campaigning and the victory is ours,” said Sifuna.
While dismissing the Jubilee candidate, Sifuna was however cautious and pointed that the by-election should not be seen as high stakes for Raila.
“Those who are running for the Kibra mini-poll with the aim of competing with Raila should stop such fights and wait until 2022. We should let Kibra residents elect a person of their choice, said Sifuna.
At the heart of the contest for Ruto and Raila is the battle for the control of the Nairobi County politics. The city has two million voters.
Raila’s party has eight MPs in Nairobi, the same number as Jubilee party while Wiper has one. Jubilee party won the governor and senator positions while ODM took home the Woman Representative seat.
Whereas the former Prime Minister may be keen to maintain his status as the popular leader in the city, the DP will seek to make his footprints visible in the county as he trains his eyes on the 2022 contest.
“We will seek to win Kibra to send a clear message that Nairobi is turning out to be a Jubilee zone,” said Lang’ata MP Nixon Korir.
Meanwhile, ANC leader Musalia Mudavadi has vowed to upstage the two parties and have his candidate win in a landslide.
“Owalo was born and lived in Kibra and is a good grassroots mobiliser. We will leave the noisy parties to do their public relations as we campaign on the ground and they will be surprised,” said Mudavadi.
