News Analysis By Leo Odera Omolo in Kisumu City.
The time is ripe for the Orange Democratic Movement {ODM} to change its tactics and nomination style and usher in a more democratic system to reflect its own name.
The past experience has shown that ODM nominations are the most flawed. The idea of giving certain selected individual personalities direct nomination in any election be it a by-election in the election people is undemocratic and autocratic.
It did not only fail, but also ashamed the party leadership when it was first applied during the general election in a number of constituencies. The worse being the two parliamentary constituencies in Gusii region, namely Kitutu Chache and Nyaribari Chache.The two constituencies are located in Central Kisii district within Gusii County.
In Nyaribari Chache, among the aspirants who had sought for the ODM nomination was Dr. Gilbert Monda. He won the party nominations during the preliminaries, but his victory was throw to the dogs. He then sought for nomination and won the he comfortably clinched the seat during the election proper after gaining a nomination certificate from another party and won the seat comfortably. The ODM had rejected his nomination in preference to another aspirant Chris Bichage who was seen as the most loyal; soldier of the party and a persona friend of the party leader Raila Odinga.
The Kitutu Chache MP Richard Momoina Onyonka had similar experience. The legislator had beaten the former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture Mr Ongwae. Onyonka sought nomination I another party and when he got it, he succeeded in beating the favorite candidate Ongwae hands down.
The latest being the case of Reuben Ndolo, the former Makadara MP is a case for study.
There were half a dozen of other aspirants who sought for ODM nomination, but got nothing. They were told that Reuben Ndolo has been nominated and were asked to campaign for him. Some of them obeyed the order while other pulled out the race reluctantly and did not help the party campaign in its bid to recapture.
By giving Ndolo a direct nomination and denying the other their democratic right to contest and taste their popularity with the electorate, the ODM had virtually signed its death warrant in Makadara. This kind of system are outmoded and Kenyans think they were long buried in the dustbins of KANU defeat of 2002, and should not be applied again.
Similar ideas were recently proposed by some Luo MPs representing the various constituencies within the larger Homa-Bay County. The MPs had apportioned themselves certain top position within the county governance. The legislators had arbitrarily divided the County top jobs in according to their own wishes, and not in line with the political will of the electorate.
Homa-Bay County comprises of six parliamentary constituencies, namely Kasipula-Kabondo Karachuonyo,Rangwe, Ndhiwa, Gwasi and Mbita.
According to the list floated around by the MP the top jobs would be distributed as follow Karachuonyo{Senate}, Rangwe {Governor},Mbita to produce Deputy Governor,Ndhiwa {Speaker of the Assembly} while Gwassi is to produce deputy Speaker of the Assembly and Mbita again to produce women representative to the Senate. All these political antics were viewed as pipedream and did not augur well with the wishes of the electorate in all the constituencies mentioned above.
And last Saturday, the MP who attended the burial of a former KNUT executive secretary in Suba the late nPaul Onyonyi cane face to face with the political realities of the matter. They wer3e confronted by the electorate who heckled and booed them telling them in their faces that selecting the County officials w the voter who will decided about who takes what position etc.
Rangwe MP Martin Otieno Ogindo had kicked off the debate when Gwassi MP John Mbadi who was the master of ceremony at the burial, which took place at Sindo in Gwassi constituency called on him to address the gathering. Ogindo asked the mourners to endorse the decision of the meeting held previously by MPs in secret venue, in which they had apportioned themselves the positions and divided them in all the six constituencies. He said the purpose was to ensure the equity in power sharing in all positions created by the new constitution.
“We had decided that Rachuonyo will give us a Senator, Rangwe is to give us a Governor, Mbita will produce deputy governor, while Suba and Mbita will produce deputy governor and the women representative. We want you to accept this as away to bring us together and ensure we have leaders from all the regions in Homa-Bay County”,Ogindo explained.
But before the MP could finish his speech, mourners shouted and heckled him and requested the Gwassi MP John Mbadi to snatch the microphone from him with shouts “Keti Chini kwenda mbali {Sit down or go away}.
Mbadi responded to the demand and took away microphone from Ogindo as mourners shouted Kwenda Kwenda {go go}.
At this point the Immigration Minister Gerald Otieno Kajwang’ and Mbadi took charge of the platform. The two rebuffed Ogindo sentiments, saying it will be the responsibility of voters to elect the person they wanted, and not the duty of the MPs to tell them who to elect in those positions.
Kajwang’s remarks seemed to have satisfied the mourner and the calm returned to the meeting. The Minister told the mourners that these are very senior positions that “we must give Kenyans enough time top ensure they elect the very best persons they want. Even I am shy to go for the post of and the MPs must be patient on the issue,”said the Minister.
Mbadi had told the mourners that it was their responsibility to elect the Senators and governor they want and not the MP sitting somewhere and distributing the posts. Whoever is interested in these jobs should inform the electorate, campaign for it and let the electorate decided.
Kajwang’ succeeded ion defusing what could have been an otherwise explosive situation. The MP in their earlier announcement had said their decision had the blessing of top ODM’s leadership. Truly speaking, the OIDM need to change tact for it to fair well in the forthcoming general elections scheduled in December 2012.
Ends
leooderaomolo@yahoo.com