Homa Bay senate aspirants intensify internal lobbying ahead of ODM Elections board decision
Propaganda rumours that Homa Bay senate candidate Silas Jakakimba has been bought off by Caroli Omondi are farfetched, untrue and pure hate speech, his campaign manager Tyrone Omollo has confirmed.
“He is in the race till the end. We are awaiting the decision of NEC. . .but why would anyone want to buy him yet the decision to nominate a candidate is now with National Elections Board (NEC) and National Executive Committee (NEC)? He is not in charge of NEC or even the NEB. His supporters may not even vote for the candidate purported to have bought him. Consider such reports as hearsay,” said Omollo.
”….but seriously, why could Jakakimba be bought when he is ahead of the pack? he is popular on ground than any other candidate, please ignore such cheap reports cooked by Nairobi based political mercenaries” Omollo added.
To confirm his campaign manager’s point, candidate Jakakimba posted a strongly worded statement on his Facebook page and copied to all media houses ”To those peddling rumours and propaganda that ‪#‎CaroliOmondi‬ has bought ‪#‎SilasJAKAKIMBA‬, your days are numbered.
We are into this cause based on very strong personal convictions to serve our People and the Republic of Kenya.
We are priceless and not ceding even an inch as we await for the National Elections Board’s decision.
@‪#‎TeamSilasJAKAKIMBA‬, ‪#‎TukoTayari‬ to steer Homa-Bay County to greater heights and we are serious. ”
This is the last weekend for residents of Homa Bay ahead of the party’s decision to select one candidate among the seven aspirants for the by election slated for February.
There are reports of realignments with allegations that some candidates have opted out of the race and are now supporting others. Kenya Today has learnt the ODM Elections Board will present three names to the party’s National Executive Council, NEC, to select one person to be the party’s flag bearer.
The beneficiaries of the political winds sweeping the county seem to be Eng. Okundi, Silas Jakakimba, Caroli Omondi, Fred Rabongo and Moses Kajwang’
Word doing rounds is that the ODM Elections board may have struck out Moses Kajwang’ from consideration following the chaos which rocked the party nomination exercise and which was allegedly masterminded by his Brother TJ Kajwang’s . However, we were unable to confirm this as calls to the ODM Director of Communications Mr. Phillip Etale went unanswered.
Fred Rabongo is also said to be firmly in the race despite rumours that he had opted out following nightlong meetings with top ODM officials. However, NEC may prevail on Rabongo to opt out following revelations of a battery charges by a Mombasa woman, this the party insiders argue may lead to Rabongo being disqualified hence giving a jubilee leaning candidate Hilary Alila an easy sail.
Oscar Kambona and George Mboya are still in the race, but their fates are not known, as the party is very unlikely to pick any of them which will automatically lead to a thrashing defeat by the moneyed Hillary Alila who is vying as independent.
Elsewhere delegates who were allied to Engineer Okundi have urged the NEB to consider any other candidate but not Caroli and Moses Kajwang , they blamed the two for pushing the idea of Clan MoU that is said to be a key determinate that will automatically lock Okundi’s name. Okundi who claims to have been a head in the delegates count blames TJ Kajwang and Caroli for the chaos that to cancellation of the nominations otherwise he could have carried the day.
For Caroli, matters were made difficult as Suba Elders endorsed Silas Jakakimba who had also received the party’s endorsement from Ndhiwa sub branch after Alila who hails from Ndhiwa pulled out. Jakakimba’s chief campaign manager dismissed rumours that his candidate had stepped down for Caroli, saying such reports show the kind of desperation in their competitor’s camp.
“We are not even competing against Caroli. Our energies are focused on the masses in the ground. Let’s not even talk about other candidats here,” said Tyrone Omole, the man in charge of Jakakimba’s campaigns in the ground.
Within NEC, the newly endorsed party honchos will face their hardest task in choosing one candidate. Several NEC members are young and formed part of the Team Fresh whom the late Kajwang’ viciously opposed. It remains to be seen if they will endorse Moses whose only selling point is that he should finish the term of his brother, much to the chagrin of Homa Bay voters who maintain the position wasn’t hereditary.
Elsewhere it has emerged that local ODM delegates are not happy with the bungling of the nominations, a move they say took a way there mandate of picking the ODM touch bearer. If NEC will nominate a polarizing candidate then it is likely that local branch leadership may even support an independent candidate as a protest to NEC and may further lead to voter apathy in the region.