- Mbadi says party constitution has no deadline for presidential aspirants.
- He said NEB's deadline has no legal backing and cannot be used to bar any aspirant.
Image: MANUEL ODENY
The Orange Democratic Movement now says there is no deadline for those who wish to apply for the party's presidential ticket for next year's general election.
The announcement made by chairman John Mbadi gives the leeway for party leader Raila Odinga who had failed to beat the earlier March 31 deadline.
The earlier deadline had been announced by the National Elections Board.
Only Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and his Kakamega counterpart Wycliffe Oparanya submitted their applications in time.
Both are deputies to the party leader.
Mbadi said the earlier deadline set by NEB had no force in law and cannot be relied on to bar any applicant from joining the race to fly the party’s flag.
“Those are procedural matters; there is nowhere in our constitution where it says there will be a deadline for submission of applications for presidential candidates,” Mbadi said.
On April 2, two days after the expiry of the NEB set deadline, ODM announced that only Oparanya and Joho handed in their applications to contest on the party’s presidential ticket.
On April 1, the party announced that Raila had also submitted his application, a position it recanted the following day as a Fools Day prank.
Raila has not indicated whether he will run for president in 2022 insisting that he will make the decision after the Building Bridges Initiative is concluded.
Mbadi said the NEB was engaged in the 'procedural matter' to make their work easier ahead of the election year.
“Those are procedures to make their work easy, it cannot bar anyone,” he said.
“Don’t bother about them, those are our own internal procedures and have no backing in law,” the Suba South MP added.
Mbadi said the only time an aspirant can be barred from submitting papers is after a nomination date has been set but still the party’s National Executive Committee has powers to admit a candidate.
“Let NEB do what they are doing, they will report to NEC. NEC can even vary and admit a candidate at the eleventh minute [sic].”
“Our constitution says for you to contest you must be a member of our party for at least one year, NEC can exempt you if you apply and explain the reason why you are not able to.”
Mbadi also dismissed reports of ongoing talks between Raila and Deputy President William Ruto for an alliance ahead of 2022.
“At the moment there is zero discussion. We have said preparation for 2022 will happen after BBI,” he said.
Edited by P.O