A Kisii ODM legislator Thursday asked the party leadership to begin becoming more deliberate and considerate of other regions when sharing out party positions.
Nyaribari Masaba MP Dr Daniel Manduku lamented that Gusii region was always getting a raw deal though the community had been unwaveringly supportive of party on every other poll.
“I have always felt that people from Kisii region who always support ODM to the last man are still getting the short end of the stick,” stated Manduku.
The Gusii region, he added, deserves more than it is getting from the Orange party.
“Kisii needs more visible positions in the party otherwise our continued stay will not be tenable come 2027 i can say on record.”
The MP spoke a day after the party’s Central Management Committee announced Kisumu Governor Anyang’ Nyong’o as the new acting party leader.
The party cited Party leader Raila Odinga’ s occupation with the chase for the African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson candidacy as reason.
Manduku said as an individual he has no problem backing Nyong’o.
“Prof Anyang Nyong’o is a very capable person. He is learned, very exposed and is not a controversial person so we support him as the new party leader,” said Manduku in Masimba, Kisii.
He spoke to reporters after a meeting with school principals.
The legislator said his was a gripe in the manner in which the party was sidelining regions that have solidly stood with it through thick and thin.
“We have no parliamentary positions as Kisii’s in ODM, we have no substantive say in the Central Management Committee yet we contribute heavily to the vote basket of ODM year in year out, election in election out so as much as we say we support the elevation of Anyang Nyong’o as party leader, we are questioning what the Kisii nation is getting in the whole of this thing we call ODM,” an angry Manduku called out.
The community, he said, had the numbers in the party and thus should be granted a say in the party decision organs.
“After the luhya and luo nation, Kisii has the most flourishing membership in the ODM but we are always neglected and sidelined when positions are being dished out so we have question mark,” he spoke in his tirade.
Manduku was, however, non committal if Kisii Governor Simba Arati is ripe for the ODM party leadership.
“The party has its own criteria and which may involve many things among them political experience, stay in parliament, professional experience, education, age and all those things. So that may have been applied and for me Anyang Nyong’o was truly picked on merit if you ask me,” Manduku stated.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
