Respect us as equal partners, Wiper leaders tell ODM

A section of leaders from Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper Party has accused Raila Odinga's ODM of bullying other Nasa affiliates after the latter stripped it off the deputy minority leader position at the Nairobi County Assembly.

This comes after ODM announced minority leadership changes at the Assembly on Wednesday, replacing Hospital Ward MCA and Deputy Minority Leader Patrick Musili of Wiper with nominated MCA Melab Atema.

Wiper now wants ODM to reconsider the changes and give the position back to Mr Musili.

Speaking during a press conference yesterday at Jukwa Lounge in Uhuru Park, Nairobi, Wiper Nairobi branch chairman Roy Kivuysu asked Nasa counterparts to respect the Musyoka-led party as an equal partner in Nasa.

He lamented that the changes were an ODM affair with all seven positions at the Assembly being occupied by Mr Odinga's party despite the existence of a coalition agreement among Nasa affiliates.

In the changes, Embakasi MCA Michael Ogada was appointed as the new minority leader replacing Karen MCA David Mberia, and will be deputised by Ms Atema taking over from Mr Musili. All the other positions remained with ODM.

“There was a reorganisation in Senate and National Assembly and none of the Nasa parties lost their positions. Why the shift at the County Assembly where we only have one leadership position? This is disrespecting our party,” said Mr Kivusyu.

'Not procedural'

On his part, Mr Musili said he was not procedurally removed from his position as the law was not followed in the process.

He said that for a leader to be removed from office, there must be a meeting to be attended by two thirds of members of Nasa. There must also be minutes of the meeting, he said, and signatures of the two-thirds of members, which all did not happen.

“For a party to remove a leader from office, the Standing Orders and the County Governments Act must be followed. So we want ODM to rethink their decision and cancel the appointments they issued on Wednesday and return the positions to their owners,” he said.

Mr Musili added that ODM alone has no powers or mandate to remove him from office as the position he holds is courtesy of Nasa which comprises ODM, Wiper, Ford Kenya and ANC, all of which were never consulted.

“When I was nominated to be the deputy minority leader, I got my nomination letter from Wiper Party and not ODM. The office that I hold is courtesy of Nasa. So ODM has no power or mandate to remove me from office,” said Mr Musili.