60% of Members of County Assembly aspirants who ‘won’ in ODM primaries are still fighting to get their certificates from the party. The candidates are complaining that they have incurred heavy bills living in Nairobi waiting for their nomination certificates because party brokers are blocking their access to the documents.
According to ODM insiders, there is serious post-primaries lobbying to the detriment of the MCAs who were given clean bill of health by the returning officers.
Of particular interest is the scramble for the aspirants’ loyalty in Gem Constituency between Elisha Odhiambo Akuba and the incumbent MP, Jakoyo Midiwo. According to key influencers in Gem constituency, it is Jakoyo Midiwo who won the Gem nominations but Raila decided to award the ticket to Elisha Odhiambo after getting ‘donations’ from Elisha’s current boss, Governor Evans Kidero.
The squabbles between forces loyal to Elisha and Jakoyo forced Raila to invite the two to his Capitol Hill Office so as to have them share power on the ground. Out of the 10 wards in Gem Constituency, Jakoyo loyalists dominate 8 of them giving Elisha problems in getting his foot on the ground.
The fact that Jakoyo still overwhelmingly stamps his authority in ODM was witnessed when ODM threatened to revoke Elisha’s certificate and give it to Jakoyo. This led to serious Crossroads where Rasanga appointed Joe Donde to help weed out all Jakoyo diehards.
Administrative wards in Gem Constituency;
- Central Gem
- East Gem
- Jina
- Marenyo
- North Gem
- Nyamninia
- South Gem
- Wagai North
- Wagai South
- Anyiko / Sauri
Disgruntled MCA aspirants have been shuttling between Three-D restaurant in Kilimani, Ngong Hills Hotel and Mash Park where the current Siaya Governor (Rasanga) has been paying all the bills-through his deputy, Wilson Ouma.
On Saturday, there was an impromptu meeting in Orengo’s Lonrho House office attended by Judith Pareno, James Orengo, Otiende Amolo and Oburu Odinga, where planned were mooted on how to tame the pro-Jakoyo aspirants. ODM Executive Director, Oduor Ongwen and Bob Arunga of the party’s election board have protested against these schemes.
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