• Odoyo claims the party no longer conducts any elections but rather appoints officials and candidates in some opaque criteria.
• Odoyo said ODM has no policy or intention of mentoring youth for future leadership, which is a major concern.
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@alalmaurice
Former Lake Basin Development Authority board chairman Odoyo Owidi has resigned from ODM party, citing lack of democracy.
Odoyo, a fully paid up life member of ODM-number 001704, in a letter to the party secretary general Edwin Sifuna said his resignation was effective immediately.
He said the party, which was founded on strong principles of social democracy, has since degenerated into a one-man show.
Sifuna did not pick calls or respond to messages sent to him over the claims made by Odoyo in the letter.
Odoyo claims the party no longer conducts any elections but rather appoints officials and candidates in some opaque criteria that make a mockery of the word "democratic" in the party name.
“Based on this declared political structure, I had expected the party to grant members equal economic, political and social rights. I believed there would be equitable distribution of privileges and opportunities in the party to all members,” he said.
The party, Odoyo said, has since been turned into a nepotistic club of a few chosen friends and relatives with the rest treated as outsiders whose support and contribution to the party is as a mandatory obligation to a master.
He said despite the immense influence the party wields within its political strongholds, it has never exploited that influence to rein in corrupt leaders in the counties and constituencies in these areas.
The former LBDA chairman further said conflict of interest, which he said was at its all-time high during this year's election.
He cited a case where the chairperson of the ODM National Elections Board was the first person on the list of persons submitted by the board to IEBC for nomination to Parliament.
“Many of the party officials, including the director of elections, were candidates in the very elections in which they were key decision making officials,” Odoyo said.
He added, “The top party officials had their close blood relatives and friends hand party election or direct nomination tickets to the various assemblies and offices – MCAs, MPs, governors and senators.”
Nothing demonstrates nepotism and discrimination better than this, he pointed out in his resignation letter, also copied to the Registrar of Political Parties and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission.
Odoyo accused ODM of barring leaders from its strongholds from working with the government of the day, thereby denying residents of various opportunities.
“The party seems to have an unwritten policy that leaders from its strongholds should not work closely with the government. This has the effect of locking the residents out of business and employment opportunities, considering that the government is the leading employer and business partner,” he said.
Odoyo said ODM has no policy or intention of mentoring youth for future leadership, which is a major concern.
“The absence of such mentorship has confirmed my worst fear that the party is designed to begin and end with the party leader,” he said.
Odoyo also hit out at the party for lacking planning and strategy for winning presidential contests.
“In the last general election, the party had no agents to collect, collate, store and preserve electoral data for use in court or in verification of results at the tallying centres,” he said.
Odoyo said it was very interesting that after every presidential election loss the party crafts reasons for the loss and without any review or postmortem.
“It only waits for the next election the same way, with the same people, shouting the same slogans. There is a lack of order and leadership structure in the party. Power in the party depends largely on how one is close to the party leader,” he said.
He said poor organisation and lack of institutionalised administrative systems within the party has led to unending wrangles in the outfit every election cycle.
Odoyo said despite the party receiving large amounts of money from political parties funding, elected members’ contributions, annual membership fees, donations from well-wishers and election nomination fees– it has never effectively been used for the nomination exercise.
The party, he said, has never made any attempt to invest in party infrastructure for the benefit of members and has remained largely in rented or makeshift premises with no known tangible assets commensurate with the party’s income.
Edited by A.N