Africa-Press – Kenya. Opposition leader Raila Odinga has changed tack in the management of ODM party elections and nominations, opting to devolve the exercise to the county level.
This as Raila on Wednesday disbanded the current National Elections Board and established a new entity known as the Coordinating Committee to take over its work under a two-tier structure.
The Coordinating Committee, the successor of NEB shall be made up of three persons who shall oversee the party elections and nominations at the National Level.
Raila retained Richard Tairo and Emily Awita, who sat in the disbanded NEB, to sit in the established NCC that will also include Beatrice Askul.
The party said it was retaining Awita and Tairo for institutional memory at the national level as Raila tries to find the best nomination formula ahead of the next polls.
Awita will chair the new NCC whose mandate will be limited to overseeing national elections and nominations in a bid to end the culture of selling tickets to the highest bidders.
This new approach will also reduce tensions and lobbying at the national level as there will be grassroots committees that will oversee elections and nominations at the counties.
Under the fresh system, the nominations for party candidates for the 2027 elections will be overseen at the counties where a committee of two people shall take charge.
A statement by the ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna after Raila chaired the Central Management Committee meeting on Wednesday said the NEB has ceased to exist.
“The Central Committee has proposed the disbandment of the Party’s Election Board as currently constituted and to devolve management of its Elections to the Grassroots,” said Sifuna.
‘Henceforth, all party elections shall be managed at the county level with two Elections Coordinators one male and one female in charge of each County.”
The party said that the powerful NCC will report directly to the party’s central management committee which Raila chairs.
This is a departure from the past when the NEB reported to the National Executive Committee of the party.
“This is geared towards improving efficiency, promoting greater credibility and empowering the grassroots to play a more central role in the spirit of devolution which the Party holds dear,” the party said.
The party said the proposals shall be presented to the relevant organs for ratification in accordance with the party constitution.
The term of the current board chaired by Catherine Mumma was to end in 2025, but Raila has decided to cut it short.
The Mumma team assumed office in August 2020 as Raila put his house in order for 2022 and amid pressure to restore sanity and credibility in the party’s nomination process.
However, the elections board had been accused of bungling party nominations, leading to ODM’s poor showing in the 2022 General Election.
In the planned overhaul at Orange House, Raila is expected to tap experienced managers and lawyers to spearhead internal polls ahead of the 2027 polls.
In the last polls, the party’s performance nosedived drastically to a low of 87 Members of the National Assembly, down from 171 in 2017.
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