Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party has revealed a cut-out plan to avert a looming fallout within the party ahead of primaries in its strongholds.
While announcing new dates for nominations in Kilifi and Mombasa counties, the Orange party revealed that it had resorted to a consensus prior to competitive ballot elections scheduled for the two counties on April 8 and 9 respectively.
In a statement on Wednesday, April 6, ODM National Elections Board Chair Catherine Mumma noted that the consultations between aspirants eying seats from governor to Member of Parliament were progressive and nearing their final stages, promising to communicate the final decision.
"We are pleased to inform our members that the process of consensus-building with respect to the positions of governor, Senator and women rep and MPs for the two countries is progressing well and the conclusion shall thereof be communicated as soon as we finalise," she declared.
On April 3, Mumma explained that ODM would use four nomination strategies: direct nomination, opinion polls, competitive primaries and consensus-building. She explained that the latter was ODM's most preferred.
"Consensus-building remained their number one approach. Consensus means that you let the aspirants speak to each other by themselves or through a third party to try and settle for one," she explained.
The party primaries remain a headache for Odinga, with the exercise causing jitters in ODM's strongholds of Coast, Nyanza, Kisii and Western regions.
In Raila's backyard, divisions have emerged in the party following the decision to award some aspirants direct tickets. The latest tussle is over the Homa Bay gubernatorial race after Gladys Wanga received the nod to fly the party's flag in the August polls.
In the Coastal region, the race to succeed outgoing Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho pits Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff and businessman Suleiman Shabal. The latter has already raised concern over what he deems a red flag in the nomination process.
"Enough with the boardroom politics. The people of Mombasa will decide who will become their next leaders. We will stand with baba until the end but here in Mombasa, don't try to manipulate things for us," he noted.
Mumma announced that ODM had implored technology and that the voting will be done electronically through Biometric Voter Registration (BVR) kits.
ODM had earlier called off nominations in Mombasa, and Kilifi counties after protests from key aspirants who faulted the party's approach.
