ODM scoffs at coalition partners over Kibra polls

The Orange Democratic Movement has threatened to walk out of National Super Alliance over claims of betrayal by coalition partners on Kibra parliamentary by-election.

The party wants all its coalition partners - Amani National Congress, Wiper Democratic Movement and Ford-Kenya - to shelve their ambitions in the election, and instead support the ODM candidate.

The Orange party has already settled on Benard Okoth as the party’s flag-bearer in the by-election. Bernard is brother of former MP Ken Okoth who died while serving his second term.

ODM party Secretary General Edwin Sifuna said Kibra was ODM’s bedrock, and any coalition partner fielding a candidate there could be seen as raiding their bedroom.

Speaking on Friday during the burial of Joseph Opiyo, brother of Nyando MP Jared Okelo at Othoo in Kisumu County, Sifuna warned that the party would not tolerate utter disrespect that their coalition partners had continued to show lately.

“In the first incident, they declined to join us for the swearing-in of Raila at Uhuru Park. In the second instance, they vehemently opposed the handshake between Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta, and now they are facing us head-on in our bedroom,” said Sifuna.

ANC Party leader Musalia Mudavadi was the first to unveil former Raila's aide Eliud Owalo as his party’s candidate for the position, while Bungoma Senator Moses Wetang'ula's Ford-Kenya party has fielded Khamisi Butichi.