How ODM’s Last Minute Strategies Saved Baba’s ‘Bedroom’

Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party victory in the Kibra by-election did not come easy.

Besides initiating a spirited campaign in its quest to reclaim the seat and, ostensibly, save party leader Raila Odinga’s political image from being tarnished, the Orange party had a unique strategy in the by-election.

ODM leader Raila Odinga at a final campaign rally at Woodley ground, Kibra.

The Kibra seat was not only an affair of their candidate Bernard Imran Okoth but also that of the ODM leaders.

Party members and leaders mobilised resources and spent better moment o their time ensuring their candidate beat the odds and retains the seat.

On the voting, the Orange party, in all appearances, did not completely trust the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission ( IEBC).

They established a parallel voting centre that ensured results of various polling stations streamed in as soon as possible.

Members of Parliament(MPs) were deployed as agents at some polling stations they deemed controversial and a threat to their victory.

Youths were reportedly deployed to ensure voter bribery games were contained as soon it was discovered.

They were alert and once reports of any irregularities came to the fore, ODM chairman John Mbadi and Director of Elections Junet Mohamed were already around to push for action and ensure transparency is observed.

ODM candidate Bernard Imran Okoth carried soared high after being announced the winner of the Kibra by-election.

A group of people, reportedly, given thousands of shillings to bribe voters were contained.

Although Pockets of violence were witnessed in some areas, some were provoked by voter bribery allegations while others were reminiscent to the kind of push and pull that ensue during a normal voting exercise.

Above all, Kibra residents voted peacefully and even before the IEBC began the counting exercise, all parties were satisfied with how the election was conducted, save for the pockets of violence.

After the voting period expired, though unconstitutional, ODM Secretary-General (Sifuna) Edwin Sifuna began sharing the results of the voting exercise as received from their agents.

Interestingly, the results announced by the IEBC was almost similar to that of the ODM SG.

According to Sifuna’s final tally, covering 180 polling stations out of the total 183, ODM candidate had 24,416 and Jubilee’s McDonald Mariga 11,068. The total votes cast according to the SG were 40,280.

On the other hand, the IEBC tally was not far from the ODM’s one.

According to IEBC data, in all polling stations, Imran had 24,636 votes while Mariga had 11,230 votes. The electoral body announced that 41,984 voters participated in the by-election.

Was Kibra by-election classic case of well-organized campaigns and strategies never seen before of ODM?

 

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