Coast lawmakers dare ODM boss to kick them from party

Rebel ODM legislators have dared party leader Raila Odinga to expel them.

The Members of Parliament said the party had no power to kick them out and vowed to continue campaigning against the referendum.

They argued that the vote debate is polarising the country and stifling development.

Mr Gideon Mung’aro (Kilifi North), Mr Khatib Mwashetani (Lunga Lunga) and Kwale Women Representative Zainab Chidzuga spoke ahead of a fund-raiser in Msambweni Saturday where more anti-Odinga rhetoric is expected.

HUGE SUPPORT

“I will continue working with the government, but let them try to expel me and I will move to court,” Ms Chidzuga said on telephone from Mombasa. “I was elected by Kwale constituents and they are the only ones who can remove me.”

Mr Mwashetani said the group will stay put in ODM. “We have not broken any law. Neither have we gone against the ODM manifesto, which does not say anything about the referendum.”

Mr Mung’aro termed those calling for their expulsion as day dreamers. The former Cord minority whip in the National Assembly was replaced with Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwandeghu in July “for furthering Jubilee interests.”

Msambweni MP Suleiman Dor said he welcomed the three to the fundraiser in his constituency “as it was part of development”.

Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir has also rebelled against Mr Odinga, but we could not reach him for comment.

The fight to win the support of Coast, which gave the Cord leader huge support in the last two elections, has heightened in recent months with President Kenyatta frequenting the region with goodies, including title deeds.

The MPs were reacting to calls by some leaders for errant and anti-referendum members to resign and seek fresh mandate.

Mr Odinga, who spoke at Wundanyi Stadium on Thursday, told delegates drawn from different constituencies in Taita Taveta that such members should cross over to the Jubilee coalition.

“On our side, we have members who have gone astray. We told them we are in Cord Team. We have our uniform. How can you be in the German national team Jersey and then score for Argentina? We have told them to remove Cord’s uniform and put on one for the Jubilee.

This is what a gentleman does.”

DEMOCRATIC RIGHT

But later, Mr Odinga said he was all for democracy and did not want to threaten the MPs.

“It is their (MPs’) democratic right. They have just come out clearly they are opposing. We don’t mind. We will face them with the people.

That is why I told the President not to intimidate and blackmail MPs and governors supporting the referendum. This is democracy.”

Mr Odinga has been a major critic of President Kenyatta’s stand that governors from the Jubilee coalition supporting the referendum should resign and seek fresh mandate under new parties.