The showdown between Mathare candidate Kevin Kioko and ODM-Secretary General Edwin Sifuna on Monday, June 27, has revealed how Azimio flag-bearer Raila Odinga's strategy to beat UDA's William Ruto has rattled the coalition.
Raila, who called for weaker candidates to drop their bids in favour of perceived stronger rivals, faces a new hurdle as some of them blatantly declined his clarion call.
This has led to openly engaging in a heated verbal exchange.
In what appears to be a looming crisis, United Democratic Party leader Cyrus Jirongo, who doubles as Azimio principal, took on the former Prime Minister over calls to have him shelve his gubernatorial bid for Kakamega County.
Speaking during a rally on June 25, Jirongo faulted ODM for attempting to zone the county, insisting that his party would field candidates in the region. He further asked the Orange party to stick to Nyanza and stop medling in Western politics.
Still in Western, female aspirants in DAP-K requested party leader Wafula Wamunyinyi to grant them immunity from zoning, arguing that their gender was already underrepresented in the party.
In Samburu County, ODM candidate for Samburu East Lenas Leshore has dismissed calls to step down in favour of incumbent Jackson Lekumontare, who seeks to defend his seat under Gideon Moi's Kanu.
While Raila continues to defend the strategy, it evidently seeks to benefit his party and President Uhuru Kenyatta's Jubilee, which have been allocated more seats, dominating over smaller parties.
In Nairobi, for instance, ODM and Jubilee each get 8 constituencies of the 17, leaving the remaining Embakasi South seat to Wiper Party.
When Wiper fielded former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko to contest the Mombasa County seat, a section of MPs in Raila's camp accused the party of invading into his territory, causing a clash in one of the rallies.
On June 23, Uhuru called for a council meeting, where the governing body is set to be presented with findings of a report compiled by a committee established to handle the issue.
