In the runner-up to the Embakasi South by-elections, the Wiper Democratic Party asked ODM not to field a candidate in the spirit of Nasahood.
But outspoken ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna chest thumped that there was no way the party could be dictated to by a junior partner.
He said they can go campaign on their own because ODM is Nasa and Nasa is ODM, you wondered whether he was supposed to be behind the gate as gate manager or behind the microphone as ODM secretary-general.
And ODM did not outgrow itself at the by-elections.
During a rally in Embakasi, Sifuna said that Irshad Sumra was a handshake candidate while the Wiper Candidate Julius Mawathe was a Tanga Tanga candidate.
The people of Embakasi have not forgotten how Sumra turned a CDF school bus into a Matatu. They were not going to vote him again. He got
7,988 votes, a third of the more than 21k garnered by Julius
Would ODM have won the elections if they gave the party ticket to another worthy candidate? The answer is yes.
But ODM has developed a tendency of auctioning party tickets to the highest bidder with the hope that Wananchi will vote for the party.
In Ugenya, Orengo convinced the world that Chris Karan was a popular candidate, but this was not true since David Ochieng had won the seat on an ODM ticket in 2013.
But he was kicked out of ODM in 2017 and the party embarked on a smear campaign telling residents that he was involved in Chris
This is one of the reasons why he won the election petition. With Chris Msando long buried and the country having moved on, Orengo came up with another lie, David Ochieng was sponsored by DP William Ruto.
But the people of Ugenya couldn’t buy this and voted for Ochieng despite threats from governor Rasanga that they wouldn’t receive development.
ODM might still be a popular party in Kenya, but its leadership should know that they can’t get away with forcing candidates on Wananchi. They will continue losing seats they should be easily winning