Joho unveils plan to celebrate ODM fete at the Coast

Opposition leader Raila Odinga will on Saturday head to Mombasa for a meeting with ODM elected leaders and party supporters as part of celebrations to mark 10 years since the party was founded.

The meeting will coincide with the launch of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Jubilee Party in Nairobi.

Mr Odinga and President Kenyatta have been locked in a supremacy battle for the Coast vote, with some of the elected leaders allied to the ODM leader announcing that they will ditch the Opposition ahead of next year’s elections.

The latest to announce such a move is Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya, who has indicated he intends to ditch ODM, the party which sponsored him in the 2013 elections.

Mr Odinga returns to Mombasa only four days after the President and his deputy visited the county and spent several days in a tour that mixed politics and government business. At one point, Mr Kenyatta described Mr Mvurya as a respected leader who should be in Jubilee.

On Tuesday, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, who is also ODM’s deputy party leader, said that Mr Odinga would make a “major announcement” during Saturday’s celebrations.

He said the party’s popularity was still high, despite the departure of its key elected leaders from the region, including governors and members of Parliament.

“A party’s popularity is not measured by its leaders but by the people. ODM remains the most popular political party in Kenya. Those people who are leaving are free to do so. They can go wherever they want, but the party remains intact,” said Mr Joho.

In Nairobi, the ODM director of elections, Mr Junet Mohamed, said Saturday’s meeting will be attended by all party MPs, senators, governors and MCAs.

He said the event was meant to mark the rebirth of the party, which was formed in 2006 after the Orange Movement, which led to the rejection of the proposed constitution in the 2005 referendum.

“We are looking forward to a very big event,” he said.

The party is facing rebellion from its elected leaders at the Coast and in western Kenya, where it enjoyed immense support in 2013.

At Coast, former Minority Chief Whip Gideon Mung’aro has been leading a group of MPs who have signalled they will move out of the party.
Last week, Mr Mvurya also said he would do the same.

He told a rally presided over by the President and his deputy, Mr William Ruto, that he would support Jubilee next year and asked voters in Kwale County to follow suit. The announcement sparked a major fallout in the party’s branch.

ADDRESS THE WRANGLES

The internal divisions widened on Monday after Matuga sub-county chairman Hassan Chitembe said ODM was courting Kenya’s ambassador to Tanzania, Mr Chirau Mwakwere to run against Mr Mvurya on an ODM ticket.

Mr Mwakwere, a former Matuga MP and Cabinet minister in the Kibaki administration, confirmed to the Nation on Monday that he had been approached by ODM officials and that he was open to join any party.

(READ: We are not wooing Mwakwere, ODM leaders say)

He has been eyeing the Jubilee ticket but his hopes appear to have been dashed after Mr Mvurya indicated he would run on the coalition’s ticket.

It is instructive that both the President and Mr Ruto said Mr Mvurya had an “impressive” development record.

On Tuesday, the ODM Kwale branch vice chairman, Mr Nicholas Zani, denied that the party had considered Mr Mwakwere as its candidate. Consequently, he announced that Mr Chitembe had been suspended with immediate effect. Mr Zani is also eyeing the governor’s seat.

The infighting has put Mr Odinga in the spotlight after he failed to solve the wrangles and unite the officials around the party during a visit to Kwale two weeks ago.

Mr Mvurya had pleaded with him to address the wrangles, which he said could harm the party.

During his visit to Kwale, Mr Odinga, who is now on a tour of western Kenya, held a series of reconciliation meetings with the local leaders.

At a public rally in Ukunda, Mr Odinga promised to resolve the disputes because “all these leaders are children of the same mother fighting for the same milk.”

In western Kenya on Tuesday, Mr Odinga asked party supporters to register as voters in large numbers and prepare to vote Jubilee out next year.