ODM party wants Elgeyo Marakwet senator Kipchumba Murkomen to stay out of its internal affairs.
Murkomen is representing Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa and her Msambweni counterpart Suleiman Dori in a petition seeking to appeal the party’s decision to expel them.
In a letter addressing the petition, ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna told off the senate majority leader who he says is a “stranger to the matter.”
“…the matter remains an internal process between a party and its membership so that we shall not be admitting strangers to any of the internal deliberations on the matter,” the letter reads in part.
Sifuna also addresses some of the matters in Murkomen’s letter to the such as “appeals to the NGC”. These, he says, do not exist in the party Constitution.
Hitting out at the rebel lawmakers and their advocate, Sifuna said that it was downright embarrassing for them to claim to be “champions of the values and aspirations of ODM” when they do not possess basic knowledge of the Constitutive document of the party.
“We strongly suggest that you and your clients take time to familiarize yourselves with the constitution and rules governing the Orange Democratic Movement to save yourselves from such ignorant misapprehensions in future,” he adds.
Sifuna also maintains that there exists no mechanism of appeal of the party’s National Executive Council (NEC) to the National Governing COuncil (NGC).
The duo, through their advocate noted that their woes began after they openly pledged their support for Deputy President William Ruto.
In their defense, they noted, their association with the DP was as a result of the Building Bridges Initiative created by President Uhuru Kenyatta and their party leader Raila Odinga.
“An allegation that the Hon Members supported a ‘presidential candidate’ other than ODM party presidential candidate is baseless and outrageous. No party has nominated such a candidate as at the time of the alleged utterances or even now for the future elections. That nomination is yet to come.”
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