News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo In Kisumu City.
.It is like as if the ODM leadership is preaching water while they drink wines. The outcome of the last week’s flawed ODM primary nomination should place the party leadership into a very shameful position which needs a lot of concentrate and more energy in public relations work.
This mismanaged nomination has obviously given and equipped Raila Odinga rivals in the presidential race with ammunition with which they could use to discredit his crusading for reforms and democracy.
Despite of the strong of massive rebellion against the Prime Minister by his Luo supporters in his home backyard in Nyanza, the corruption ridden and much flawed ODM preliminary nomination exercises has left “Agwambo” like a wounded bull of buffalo.
What has since emerged like selection and not election will see Mr Odinga sitting in the eleventh parliament with not very credible MPs who can be said to be enjoying the public confidence, but a bunch of selected group rigged into the August House. And because the Prime Minister is facing an up-hill task of overcoming his opponents in the presidential race, he really needed a solid support and backing from his Luo home backyard in a similar fashion which he enjoyed in the 2007 general election.
This is so important because of Kenya’s politics is based on ethnicity strength and numbers, it appears here as if the Prime Minister had taken his tribesmen for granted and made no effort of sensitizing the on the importance of maintaining high standard of discipline in their undertakings, especially on matters related to the competitive politics.
Here are the list of the number of parliamentary constituencies where no genuine voting took place, and people purported to have won the nomination and those who are purported to have won the primaries in these constituencies were only handed the nomination certificates by the ODM in silver platter.
In Homa-Bay County, there were no elections which took place in Kabondo-Kasipul, Kasipul, Rangwe, Homa-Bay Town, Ndhiwa, Mbita and Gwassi..It was a big miss because the election materials either arrived in those places twenty four later after the expiry of the dateline and deadline set by the ICEBC.
The valid reason for the apathy shown by the voters in those places could as well be attributed to non-arrival or late arrival of election materials from the ODM headquarters in Nairobi, massive corruption practiced openly by those who were appointed and sent into those rural constituencies either as presiding or returning officers as well as polling stations clerks.
These personnel who were supposed to be responsible in supervising the nomination exercises went into bribery spree accepting money from the competing aspirants and then declaring those who had performed dismally at the polls as the winners to the chagrins of the electorate. After accepting bribes the returning officer later faked stories of kidnapping, some said they were intimidated and that their lives were placed in great danger. and yet some of the were known to have laughed all the way to the banks after receiving fat bribe money.
Still in Homa-Bay county, here no voting took place in places like Mbita, Homa-Bay, Town, Rangwe, Kabondo Kasipul, Kasipul Gwassi and Ndhiwa. Thee only place where members of the public had the slightest chances of casting their votes was in Karachuonyo constituency. Bribery is said to have not been confined within the constituencies, but had also started all the way from the party head office where some ballot boxes were poorly packed and sent out in insecure condition which were prone to interferences while the documents were still in transit
Some places receiving ballot boxes and ballot papers without bearing the names of some candidates or some candidates had their names missing from the ballot papers. This was the case of Kabondo-Kasipul. .In Migori County, genuine voting exercises only took places in two constituencies, namely Migori East and Migori West. It was only in Rongo constituency where the actual voting exercise took place, though there were inadequate election materials.
In the newly created Awendo cons politician with contact and influence at the ODM headquarters is believed to have prevailed upon the party’s election board members to have his political surrogate and sycophant declared the winner in a place which had not received even one single ballot box.
Rumors were also rampant that a vehicle loaded with panga Machetes] had ferried the consignment from Kisumu to Awendo. The machetes are said to have been distributed to the youths, for the purpose of committing a felony during the primaries and thereafter during the election proper.
He residents have appealed to the police to launch a thorough investigation with the view to unearth the whereabouts of the huge consignment of machetes. The same could be used on March 4, 2013 for the purpose of causing mayhem.
Hired political goons were deployed everywhere, including inside polling booths. In places where the goons perceived that their master was on the losing end, they moved, invaded the polling stations,seized ballot papers and destroyed election materials including the votes which had already been casted. To-date nobody had appeared before a court of law charged with the offences causing willful damages to property.
It was in Uriri constituency within Migori district where the voters were able to vote, though in a small scale. And they sent the former MP Cyprian Ojwang’ Omolo packing and replace him with the populist Eng Kobado, a former Principal of the Kenya Railways Training School, the only man in greater Southern Nyanza who is believed to have won his primary nomination genuinely.
The former Luo-Nyanza MPs who lost the nomination, though some of them later found their way after their names had been submitted to the ICEBC include Ayiecho Olueny [uhotoni} Otieno Ogindo{Rangwe} Oyugi Magwanga {Kasipul], Edick Omondfi Anyanga [Nyatike}, Fred Outa {Nyando}, Pollyins Ochieng’ Daima, {Nyakach, Jakoyo Midiwo {Gem{, Olago Aluoch {Kisumu Town West[.
Hose who had defended their seats successfully included Eng. Nicholas Gumbo [Rarieda],Shakeel Ahmed |Shabbir {Kisumu Town East, Dalmas Otieno,{Rongo}John Pesa [Migori East}Eng James Rege [Karachuonyo} and John Mbadi {Gwassi}.