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Otiende, seen to be one of the most eloquent debaters, had taken a dig at ODM chairman John Mbadi, telling him to be quiet since he lacked legal training.
“John Mbadi, you have not stepped into law school, so just allow me,” Otiende said in Parliament, explaining why the proposed 70 constituencies are unconstitutional.
Part of the discontent in ODM is fuelled by Raila’s unflinching commitment to the handshake despite concerns Uhuru is reluctant to support his presidential bid.
Insiders are also grumbling that ODM was sidelined in the distribution of the 70 constituencies created by the BBI Bill.
They say most benefits, including constituencies, have been taken to the President’s Mt Kenya backyard.
The formula for disbursing county resources was also altered to reflect the “one man one shilling” policy advocated by the Kikuyu political elite.
“Raila is compromising in the hope that he would be backed for the presidency. We are back to where we were in 2009 when Raila all of a sudden accepted a pure presidential system against ODM’s known position for a parliamentary system,” an insider aware of the intrigues told the Star.
But some critics have accused Orengo’s wing of pushing Raila out of the handshake
There is even speculations that Orengo could be planning to make a stab at the presidency in 2022.
The Senate Minority leader contested the presidency in 2002 against the Narc wave, finishing fourth with 0.4 per cent of the vote.
He even lost his Ugenya parliamentary seat.
However, Orengo is believed to have been discontented with the handshake from the word go, a deal Raila secretly executed alongside Suna East MP Junet Mohamed and his lawyer, Paul Mwangi.
There are questions about how ODM has benefited from the deal, if at all.
When Uhuru was visiting Kisumu after the truce following the bloody 2017 polls, Orengo demanded that the President should compensate victims of the violence.
At the time, Mbadi described Orengo’s demands as misplaced and uncalled for.
“When the President is coming, you don’t have to give conditions to someone who is visiting on serious issues of development. I am not downplaying the significance of 2017 victims of election violence, but I think we have a different forum to address the issue,” he said.
Speaking to the Star yesterday, Gem MP Elisha Odhiambo and his Alego Usonga counterpart Sam Atandi downplayed the differences.
Odhiambo said what is playing out were mere differences of opinion.
“People have different perspectives. People are just reading more [into this] than they should,” he stated.
“If you ask me, there are those who care less about the constituencies. But there are those who view constituencies as an avenue to get more resources and to accelerate more development in our region. More constituencies mean more resources…We are going to pass BBI, but again, that does not stop us from airing our views.”
Atandi, on the other hand, said ODM’s political enemies had infiltrated the party to portray the outfit to be at war
“Expressing divergent views doesn’t mean that people are fighting. People are at liberty to express their views. I don’t think there is infighting. People are just expressing their views divergently,” he said.
(Edited by V. Graham)
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