A vicious row has broken out in the top leadership of ODM. National chairman John Mbadi has found himself on a collision course with secretary general Edwin Sifuna and executive director Oduor Ong’wen over who wields the power to carry out changes in the party’s leadership at the Nairobi county assembly.
Party leader Raila Odinga is expected to chair a crisis meeting of the Central Management Committee tomorrow to quell the flareup and and seal cracks in the leading Opposition party.
Raila travelled to the UK to watch Gor Mahia play Everton on Tuesday and is expected back today. Mbadi confirmed the meeting, but did not divulge more details.
Mbadi and Sifuna sent out conflicting messages on the leadership of the assembly in a span of 24 hours.
Mbadi’s letter arrived first on Monday communicating the party’s position on the proposed changes on the minority side.
Yesterday, Sifuna dispatched another letter to the assembly rubbishing Mbadi’s earlier letter and directing the current leadership to stay put.
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In the letter, Sifuna described himself as the “spokesperson, authorised principal officer and the person mandated by the constitution of the party to issue correspondence on behalf of the party.”
“You are directed to disregard any communication to the contrary. No changes have been made to the minority side leadership by the party or any of its organs,” Sifuna said.
But Mbadi maintained that the changes stand and his decision as the chairman cannot be overruled by the secretary general.
“According to the constitution of our party, the chairman’s decision can only be overruled by the party leader or his two deputies and not any other person or a party organ like NEC, central committee and or NDC,” Mbadi said yesterday at his Parliament office.
procedure not followed
Mbadi had pushed for the replacement of minority leader Elias Otieno and whip Peter Imwatok with Kennedy Oyugi (Highrise MCA) and Nicholas Okumu (Savanna MCA) respectively.
In his letter dated November 5, the Suba South legislator told the speaker to ignore any contradictory communication from the party.
“As previously reiterated, the decision made by the ODM party emanated from the request of the membership of Nairobi county assembly which was endorsed by the party after deliberations in compliance with the ODM party Constitution,” Mbadi said in a letter seen by the Star. On October 25, the ODM chairman fired the first salvo in what has now degenerated into a fresh implosion in the party by writing to the assembly’s speaker communicating the changes.