End your conflict for the party's sake - Raila tells ODM members

ODM leader Raila Odinga addresses his supporters at KIE Grounds in Taveta town, Taita Taveta County, on September 20, 2016. He said members are free to join Jubilee Party if they want to. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • He urged them to vote for ODM candidates, from the president, governors, woman reps, senators, MPs and MCAs.
  • Mr Odinga is on a three-day tour of the county after which he will head to Kwale, where Governor Salim Mvurya has indicated he intends to join Jubilee Party.
  • He said that ODM will place 60 officials at each polling station in next year’s polls to guard its votes.

ODM leader Raila Odinga has called on his party leaders to end internal wrangles, saying that could ruin its chances to winning next year’s elections.

Speaking to delegates and other leaders in Taveta on Tuesday, Mr Odinga said continued strife is not healthy for the party.

“We don’t want to hear about wrangles and divisions anymore in ODM. As you know, it is only 10 months to the elections. Let us become friends, let us love one another and resolve our differences in a friendly manner,” he said.

He called on ODM supporters to vote six-piece, saying he did not want “dots” in the polls.

He urged them to vote for ODM candidates, from the president, governors, woman reps, senators, MPs and MCAs.

The opposition leader spoke as differences between Governor John Mruttu and Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu, who has declared his interest in the governor’s seat, played out before him.

Different groups showed allegiance to their respective camp as they received the party leader when he arrived.

Mr Odinga is on a three-day tour of the county after which he will head to Kwale, where Governor Salim Mvurya has indicated he intends to join Jubilee Party.

Mr Odinga once again pledged that the party nominations will be free and fair and urged those who "lose" to support the winners.

“Our party nominations will be free and fair. Those who will win will get the party ticket and those who will lose should support the winners,” he said.

He said that ODM was a party with a social democratic policy whose main ideology is “live and let live”.

“In our party we want to bring a society that is mindful of others: the sick, poor people and orphaned children. We want to create employment and empower women.

"We don’t want to see women discriminated [against], we want gender equality. We want to end tribalism," he said.

VOTE THEM OUT

He said that such party virtues must be practiced by all party supporters and leaders and castigated those who only speak but do not do what they said.

Addressing a rally at the KIE Grounds in Taveta town later, Mr Odinga accused Jubilee of buying opposition leaders.

He urged voters to prepare to remove the Jubilee government next year.

“The difference between ODM and Jubilee is like day and night,” he said and dismissed the recent dissolution of 11 small parties to form Jubilee.

“ODM is a party with structures and clear leadership. It has its chairman, who is me, deputy party leader, who is Ali Hassan Joho, secretary-general, who is Agnes Zani, and other clear positions. But in Jubilee, can they tell us who is the secretary, secretary-general, and leader and so on?

"Dissolving the parties and forming one Jubilee is insignificant because it is the same monkeys in different names in different forests.”

He said that ODM will place 60 officials at each polling station in next year’s polls to guard its votes.

Mr Odinga is set to hold a series of rallies and meetings in the county today and tomorrow at Wundanyi, Mwatate, Voi and Saghala, among others, before going to Kwale County.

On defectors, Mr Odinga told them that they may leave if they please.

“The defectors claim that they are leaving the opposition because they want development for their people. But I ask you, what development has the government initiated?” he asked.

Mr Odinga said the opposition was optimistic that there will be no vote rigging next year after the exit of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission commissioners and urged Kenyans to get national identity cards and register as voters in large numbers so as “to send the Jubilee government home”.

CORRUPT

He added that the Jubilee government was perpetrating corruption and named the National Youth Service and other scandals, whose perpetrators, he said, were in government.

“The Jubilee leaders do not deserve another term in government because they do not have solutions to our problems. Prices of basic commodities have gone up because of corruption,” he said.

The ODM leader claimed that the Jubilee government has been discriminating against Kenyans on the basis of tribe when it comes to employment.

Governor Mruttu, Mwatate MP Andrew Mwadime, Voi MP Jones Mlolwa and Mr Mwadeghu also urged residents to register as voters in large numbers to exercise their democratic rights.

Other MPs present were Laikipia North MP Mathew Lempurkel and Kisumu Woman Rep Rose Nyamunga.

Edited by Philip Momanyi