ODM seeks to toughen nomination rules ahead of 2022 election

Aspirants seeking to contest for elective posts on the Orange Democratic Movement ticket in 2022 should prepare for a shocker as the party is seeking to change its nomination rules.

ODM’s National Chairman John Mbadi told the Nation that the party is determined to have transparent nominations and is working on the changes.

Mr Mbadi said the new National Election Board (NEB), chaired by Catherine Mumma, has been tasked with reviewing nomination rules that will apply ahead of the next General Election.

“We have trained the board early enough so that it can come up with new party primaries and nomination rules that will make [the process] easy and [enhance] accountability,” the Suba South MP said.

He pointed out that the reconstitution of the NEB as well as the internal disciplinary committee is part of the change process ahead of 2022.

2017 loss

A report commissioned by ODM after the 2017 polls blamed its secretariat, the National Executive Committee and NEB for the disputed loss.

“The biggest concern with ODM is failure to respect its own constitution and regulations. The party structures are clear, from the grassroots to the top, but the implementation of the constitution and the functionality of the structures, particularly at the grassroots, is wanting,” states the report.

The report specifically accused the three organs of deliberately bungling party primaries

“This is not a journey we started yesterday but immediately after the 2017 elections. We sat down and evaluated our performance and what we need to do ahead of 2022,” Mr Mbadi said.

“We lost a number of our members in the last election because our nominations had many pitfalls.”

ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna confirmed the party is working on modalities to get it right in 2022 but did not give details on the expected changes.

During the opening of the ODM office in Lavington, Nairobi, last year, deputy leader Wycliffe Oparanya (Kakamega governor) urged party leader Raila Odinga to decisively deal with cartels in the secretariat, saying they bungle nominations each election cycle

“ODM is still powerful at the grassroots but has lost numbers both in the National Assembly and the Senate. We must ask ourselves why,” Mr Oparanya said.

Education

Although Mr Mbadi did not outline the specific changes expected since they will be drawn by the new election board that has been undergoing training in Machakos, he said MCA aspirants must have better academic qualifications.

He noted on Saturday that MCAs play an important role unlike the county council members of the past, so their academic qualifications must be higher for those seeking ODM tickets.

“These people oversee budgets worth billions of shillings yet some sitting in the budget committee have no idea how a budget should be done,” Mr Mbadi said.

The law requires MCA candidates to have at least a Form Four certificate.

The National Assembly in 2012 amended several sections of the Political Parties Act and other electoral laws ahead of the 2013 General Election but this was suspended.

MPs and their counterparts in the counties only needed to have a three-month post-secondary certificate to be eligible to contest in 2013.

In 2016, Justice and Legal Affairs Committee chair Samuel Chepkong’a proposed a minimum qualification of a degree or a diploma certificate for those vying for the MCA seat.

Although this was passed, its implementation was suspended until 2022.