Africa-Press – Kenya. ODM has been sued over alleged plot to create an extra position of deputy party leader for EALA MP Winnie Odinga.
A party member Evans Amuga filed the case under a certificate of urgency at the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal (PPDT) seeking orders to bar Winnie’s planned elevation in the party ranks.
On Tuesday, the PPDT presiding member Gad Gathu-Karagu directed the complaint to be served upon the respondents who are at liberty to file responses with the matter being listed for directions today afternoon at 2.30 pm.
He has listed ODM, Winnie, Makadara MP George Aladwa and Registrar of Political Parties as the respondents while seeking the intervention of the court ahead of Friday’s National Delegates Convention (NDC).
The petitioner argues that unless the Tribunal intervenes urgently, Winnie may be accorded preferential treatment or special recognition at the convention based on her purported “elevation” to the non-existent position of “Nairobi’s number-one party delegate”
“The election of deputy party leaders may be unduly influenced by the pre-emptive endorsement made at the county-level meeting of 17th March, contrary to Articles 6.2.2 and 6.2.2(e) of the Party Constitution,” the application states.
In the case filed on Monday, 23 March, Amuga asked the Tribunal to declare the purported “elevation” to the non-existent position of “Nairobi’s number-one party delegate” null and void.
The complainant says ODM should be stopped from creating any position for Winnie, the last born-daughter of party founder and leader Raila Odinga, as this may entrench dynastic tendencies in political parties.
“An unconstitutional precedent of dynastic succession will be established within the Party, whereby party positions may be “inherited” by family members of deceased leaders outside the constitutional electoral processes,” Amuga states.
“The integrity of the National Delegates Conference as the supreme organ of the Party with exclusive authority to elect National Officials under Article 7.2.4(g) will be irreversibly undermined.”
While acknowledging that Winnie, as an EALA MP, is entitled to attend the Special Delegates Convention as a delegate by virtue of her membership in the Party Parliamentary Group, he says the prayers sought in the complaint do not seek to exclude her from attending the convention as a delegate.
“The 2nd Respondent will still be entitled to attend and participate in the convention as an EALA MP delegate; the orders sought merely prevent her from claiming a position that does not exist in the party constitution.”
Amuga says he filed the case following a meeting of ODM delegates from Nairobi’s 17 constituencies held at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation (JOOF) in Upper Hill, Nairobi and convened by Aladwa.
The ODM delegates ‘elevated’ her to the position of “Nairobi’s number-one party delegate,” a position previously held by her late father Raila, who passed away in October 2025 while she was endorsed for the position of deputy party leader ahead of the Special Delegates Convention.
