• More than 1,000 delegates will meet in Mombasa after the holy month of Ramadhan.
• The orange party is determined to stamp its authority in the Coast region and stave off advances made by Deputy President William Ruto.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
The rejuvenation of ODM is scheduled to start in Mombasa where more than 1,000 delegates will gather after the holy month of Ramadhan.
The orange party is determined to stamp its authority in the Coast region and stave off advances made by Deputy President William Ruto.
The March 9, 2018, handshake between ODM leader Raila Odinga and President Uhuru Kenyatta has raised disquiet in some quarters that the party has been swallowed by Jubilee and is no longer vibrant.
Also of concern is the fact that the party has not held any meeting since the August 2017 general elections.
Mombasa branch secretary general Godfrey Busaka on Friday said that the delegates’ conference in Mombasa was intended to revive the party from the grassroots level.
He said ODM is not worried by Ruto’s numerous trips to the Coast as "the political space is too big" to be filled by one person.
“Definitely not,” Busaka retorted when asked whether the party feels threatened by the inroads Ruto is making in the region for decades perceived to be an ODM zone.
“He may occupy here while we occupy there. The political space is big. So, it depends on the strategy he comes with and the strategy we have. We cannot stop him (from coming) but we don’t see him a big threat to us.”
Busaka said the DP is not the only one who will try to eat into the ODM territory at the Coast.
“He has come and will occupy a certain space. Others will also come and occupy some space. They will all try to take over and we will defend our region. We know Coast politics,” the ODM official said.
“People say the party is asleep. That is why we need to revive it,” he said.
A Coast delegates' meeting will be held soon after the Mombasa conference.
“The county is also engaging other counties in the Coast region with a view to meeting as county committees to discuss the way forward for the region,” Busaka said.
Last Wednesday, the Mombasa branch held a meeting of among others, women league leaders, youth league leaders, county assembly leadership, and chairmen of the sub-county branches.
Busaka said The meeting was, according to Busaka, a housekeeping one and had nothing to do with some Mombasa MCAs' defiance of deputy party leader Hassan Joho, who is also the Mombasa Governor.
“We did not discuss anything about the governor. He did not feature anywhere in our meeting,” he said.
Mombasa county assembly chief whip Charles Kitula, who attended the meeting at the governor’s office, defended the MCAs saying they had to perform their mandate in the assembly.
Kitula was among the MCAs who had voted for the impeachment of the county's transport executive Tawfiq Balala over alleged incompetence, arrogance and abuse of office.
Joho had told the MCAs to let his executives concentrate on their work. The impeachment failed due to "lack of sufficient evidence".
On Sunday, Kitula told the Star, “I told them there is no infighting at the assembly. We are only concerned that when the executives do not discharge their mandate effectively, we are the ones being blamed.”
He said the only time the matter discussed was the non-remittance of contributions by the county legislators to the party. ODM requires all its MCAs to remit Sh5,000 to the party every month.
The 39 Mombasa ODM MCAs have not been remitting the amount and owe the party Sh4,680,000.
The party intends to meet with Assembly Speaker Aharub Khatri this week to discuss how the money will be collected from the MCAs. The matter will be escalated to Deputy Governor William Kingi and Joho.
“They will have to come up with ways they can pay this money. We depend on contributions from well-wishers and the MCAs for our party activities,” Busaka said.
The nationwide non-remittance of funds by MCAs has been a concern of the party's National Governing Council.