- Mbadi said he will place a request before the party’s leadership to consider making it mandatory that the party primaries are held in all political seats.
- He said the move will help minimise controversies and fallout that arise in the party after every electioneering period.
Image: ROBERT OMOLLO
Image: ROBERT OMOLLO
ODM national chairman John Mbadi wants the party to abolish the direct ticket method to enhance members’ participation in the outfit's nomination exercise.
Mbadi said he will place a request before the party’s top leadership to consider making it mandatory that the party primaries are held in all political seats from MCA to governor.
He said the move will help minimise controversies and fallout that arise in the party after every electioneering period.
Mbadi also said eradicating the direct method of party nomination will give its supporters an opportunity to pick candidates of their choice hence enhancing their democratic right.
“It is my wish that ODM does away with this method of giving direct tickets to particular aspirants to become candidates especially in their stronghold areas. Supporters have decried being denied chance to choose popular candidates,” Mbadi said.
Ahead of last year’s general election, ODM issued direct tickets to its preferred candidates for MP, senator, governor and Woman Representative seats.
It however turned out that some aspirants were forced to rescind their candidatures in favour of the party’s choice.
This made some of them to run as independent candidates and caused some people to withdraw their support from the party.
Due to such disfranchisements and other loopholes during nominations, many people say they are the fodder to the party continuous loss of popularity in its strongholds.
Besides, the party uses other methods such consensus, opinion polls, delegates system and universal suffrage by the bona fide registered party members.
According to Mbadi, doing away with the direct nomination is one of the ways of strengthening the party at the grassroots.
“ODM's rival parties take advantage of the prevailing situation to gain roots in the party strongholds. They take advantage of the shambolic party nominations and register membership,” he added.
Speaking during a talk show on Ramogi FM, the national chairman said direct nomination method has made the party supporters feel like they are being denied the opportunity to pick their preferred candidates.
He gave an example of Homa Bay, Kisumu, Siaya and Migori counties where some supporters feel that some respective area leaders were not fairly nominated by the party in the last election.
“Majority of the party supporters normally feel that they cannot support the party’s direct nominees in the elections because they believe that theirs were locked out in the nominations process,” Mbadi said.
He took issue with the party MPs who recently met with President William Ruto at State House, accusing them of disloyalty.
Mbadi argued that some of the MPs easily got the party ticket but have now turned against the party.
Some MPs who went to State House are Caroli Omondi (Suba South), Gideon Ochanda (Bondo), Felix Odiwuor alias Jalang’o (Lang’ata) and Mark Nyamita (Uriri).
Others in the visit were Kisumu Senator Tom Ojienda and Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo.
“We expected these people to be loyal because they were given direct party tickets but they have turned out to be rebellious,” he added.
The party primaries have often been characterised by chaos and fallouts every electioneering period.
Mbadi reiterated that the party has also received constant criticism from the supporters over shambolic nominations, saying it was time to put things right in future elections.
“For ODM to continue to have its popularity intact, the supporters should be given the mandate to nominate candidates in all positions. They are always hitting the party leadership because of the poor nominations process and we find it hard to give answers,” he said.
-Edited by SKanyara