ODM MPs warn Joho team over elections

By Lawrence Aluru

Kenya: Two Orange Democratic Movement MPs have warned the Hassan Joho-led team to stop creating divisions in the party and instead concentrate on uniting members.

Funyula MP Paul Otuoma and his Gem counterpart Jakoyo Midiwo said the call for an early election before a report by the ad-hoc committee investigating the February 28 botched elections was premature.

The two MPs condemned the recent clamour for party elections by the Joho-led faction demanding that the party elections be held within 30 or 45 days.

Dr Otuoma, who vied for the chairmanship slot in February, reprimanded his colleagues, terming them as individuals who were out to divide the Orange party.

“We are not going to allow those who want to commit political suicide to die with ODM. We must safeguard our party since it carries aspirations of so many Kenyans,” said Otuoma.

The legislator condemned his competitors for allowing alleged outside ?forces to pile pressure on them to hold elections before the stipulated? time frame.

He instead urged the aggrieved members to wait for the findings of the ad-hoc committee formed to probe the cause of the botched polls.

Legal mandate

The legislator said nobody was elected during the aborted elections and hence no member should purport to speak on behalf of the party.

Registrar for Political Parties Lucy Ndung’u said last week that as it stands, the party does not have legal national office holders. She, however, clarified that some party leaders who were appointed unopposed were still in office.

Midiwo advocated for a fresh audit of the party delegates list in order to stop a repeat of what transpired at Kasarani in February.

He maintained that the interim team is not eligible to make any decisions on behalf of the party as they do not have any legal mandate to do so.