Azimio Leader Raila Odinga is nursing the pain of yet another political blow after a failed last-minute attempt by the ODM party to nominate his daughter, Winnie Odinga, to parliament.
This is according to former Gatundu South Member of Parliament (MP) Moses Kuria who spilt the beans when congratulating Hon. Ummulkheir Harun Mohammed, a young and upcoming leader from Garissa County who clinched the nomination, albeit by lucky means.
Hon. Ummulkheir was reportedly forced to go into hiding in the days preceding her confirmation as an MP, amidst pressure from the Odinga family to withdraw her nomination and pave way for Winnie’s appointment.
“I am very happy for brand new Hon Ummulkheir Harun Mohammed. She had to go to hiding before the swearing-in today. Reason? Her party ODM was hunting for her to resign from her nomination slot to pave way for Winnie Odinga to be nominated.
Congratulations Mheshimiwa, now work for the youth, women, the people of Garissa and for this great nation,” Kuria wrote on his Facebook page.
According to @HonMoses_Kuria, ODM wanted to replace Ummulkheir of Garissa with Raila’s daughter and she had to hide. The kind of thingz youngsters go through to achieve their ambitions.
Now she will prove them wrong, I have no doubt that. pic.twitter.com/o7KAzEwvdI— Ahmedkadar (@Ahmedkadar1) September 12, 2022
Mr Odinga’s loyal footsoldiers have, however, dismissed Kuria’s claims as propaganda, arguing that such a move by ODM would by against the Elections Act.
“The party provides a list and that list becomes property of IEBC and subject to the Elections Act,” opined Mohamed Wehliye, a senior banker and adherent Azimio supporter.
The party provides a list and that list becomes property of IEBC and subject to the elections Act. You need not to guess. It is up there. Read! By the way, Winne played a big role in Umi's nomination.
— Mohamed Wehliye, MBS (@WehliyeMohamed) September 12, 2022
For the reallocation of a special seat, the Kenyan law states that “if a representative from a political party list dies, withdraws from the party list, resigns or is expelled from his or her party during the term of the representative, the seat of the representative shall be allocated to the next candidate of the same gender on the respective political party.
If there are no more candidates on the same party’s list, it ought to nominate another candidate within twenty-one days”.
