How Raila brokered deal on top ODM jobs

What you need to know:

  • The new line-up comprising 26 party positions and 36 names of party members is drawn from the groups allied to Mr Namwamba and Mr Joho on one side and Dr Zani and Mr Otuoma on the other. Those drawing the lists were also keen on an ethnic balance in the new party leadership.
  • Mr Namwamba and Dr Zani, who were bitter rivals for the position of secretary-general during the party elections that aborted in February, had been mandated to come up with a proposal on the way forward.

It was ODM leader Raila Odinga’s personal intervention that culminated in Saturday’s agreement on the party leadership structure, we can reveal today.

Sources said Mr Odinga held separate meetings with those eyeing top party positions and their camps before the deal was struck.

“He (Raila) had to include members of the two camps in ODM in his foreign trips during which they held talks on the matter” a source told the Nation.

Mr Odinga struck a magic wand by bringing together two rival camps led by newly named Secretary-General Ababu Namwamba and second deputy SG Agnes Zani, even though some members, including Funyula MP Paul Otuoma, appeared dissatisfied.

Sources close to the Cord leader, who three weeks ago appeared to have lost control of his party, said he talked separately with the key individuals in the protracted fight over leadership in the Orange party.

He also sent emissaries to the antagonists and the result was an agreement on a party leadership structure at the Elementaita Lodge, Naivasha. “The party leader talked to both groups and also held meetings with individuals. You have seen that some like (Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan) Joho were on trips with the party leader in Germany and the US,” the source, who is part of the ODM think-tank, said.

For instance, two weeks ago, Mr Odinga met Mr Namwamba at his Capital Hill office where they held talks for more than three hours. He held similar talks with Dr Zani.

The new line-up comprising 26 party positions and 36 names of party members is drawn from the groups allied to Mr Namwamba and Mr Joho on one side and Dr Zani and Mr Otuoma on the other. Those drawing the lists were also keen on an ethnic balance in the new party leadership.

Mr Namwamba and Dr Zani, who were bitter rivals for the position of secretary-general during the party elections that aborted in February, had been mandated to come up with a proposal on the way forward.

The discussions on the list started around 2pm, and according to sources in the meeting, the position of secretary-general was the most difficult to agree on. Out of the blue, Suba MP John Mbadi is said to have become a strong candidate for the position against Mr Namwamba whose name appeared on the compromise list that he presented alongside Dr Zani.

LIST UNVEILED

A majority of those present supported Mr Mbadi for the position. But Mr Namwamba and his supporters would not budge insisting it was him for the position or nothing. The final list was unveiled around 10pm on Saturday night, naming Mr Joho and Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya the deputy party leaders.

Contacted by the Nation, Mr Adan Keynan, who got the position of third deputy chairman, said the two groups agreed on the new line-up by consensus. He expressed confidence that it would end the leadership wrangles that threatened to ruin ODM.

“I am happy that the stalemate is over; my happiness is not because positions have been given to individuals, but because there is a compromise at last,” Mr Keynan said.