Mudavadi digs in for county polls
Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi on Saturday maintained ODM was in the process of amending its constitution to facilitate conducting of presidential nominations at the county level.
But party leader Raila Odinga has urged ODM members to await a report from the committee formed to write the party’s election rules.
The Local Government minister has, however, pointed out that a National Executive Council and parliamentary group meeting in Naivasha last year amended various sections of the country’s Constitution, including that on presidential nominations.
Mr Mudavadi said what was left was for the National Delegates Conference to ratify the changes ahead of presidential nominations.
Once the changes are made, the Sabati MP said, party members will be able to choose leaders of their own choice without intimidation.
He termed this a break from a past when delegates could be hand-picked to elect leaders to positions that they did not merit.
The new changes, he noted, would give members the opportunity to have leaders at the helm who would steer the party’s governance as expected.
Mr Mudavadi, who had earlier inspected projects being undertaken by his ministry in Bomet town, was speaking at St Bakhita Catholic conference hall where he met the party’s 240 delegates from the county.
The Deputy Prime Minister added that standing against Prime Minister Raila Odinga did not mean he was not against the PM’s leadership. (READ: ODM legislators downplay Raila, Musalia rivalry)
He said that ODM embraced democracy and it was, therefore, was not wrong for leaders to contest against each other for elective posts.
He also stated that he was contesting the presidential nomination of his own volition, not as someone’s project.
