Bernard Namunane And David Mugonyi
18 August 2007
Nairobi — Fear of a protracted court case over the ownership of ODM-Kenya was the reason a group of presidential aspirants initiated moves to acquire a new party.
Langata MP Raila Odinga and ODM presidential aspirants William Ruto, Musalia Mudavadi and Najib Balala set out to convince lawyer Mugambi Imanyara to hand over the ODM party when it became apparent that they did not have sufficient time to mount campaigns if the case over ODM-K's ownership dragged on in court.
The decision was particularly informed by the declaration by Mwingi North MP Kalonzo Musyoka that only ODM-K's registered officials were to be recognised.
This was confirmed by Mr Odinga during the handover of the party by Mr Imanyara. The MP said: "When it became clear that we were going to be stuck in mud for a long time, I made it my business to look for a safe nest to land as the court case goes on. That was when I made it my business to know Mugambi Imanyara."
The former Roads minister said he held three meetings with Mr Imanyara before a deal to hand over the party was struck.
"The first meeting was organised by a mutual friend. This meeting happened about three weeks ago in a residence somewhere," he said yesterday.
The said residence, it emerged, was Mr Odinga's home in Karen, Nairobi, where a political associate of Mr Ruto made the introduction.
The second meeting, Mr Odinga said, was held in his office at the Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Foundation in Upper Hill.
"The second meeting was in my office and the third was also in a residence. We developed confidence and I found out that Imanyara is not as bad as he had been demonised. He is a committed Kenyan who was ready to hand over the party to the true owners of the orange," Mr Odinga said.
Deal struck
Saturday Nation investigations revealed that the third meeting also took place at Mr Odinga's residence where the final deal was struck and officials of ODM Party of Kenya brought on board.
The officials are Mr Said Keitany (chairman), Mr Tony Chege (secretary general), Mr Abel Bulimo (organising secretary) and Ms Judy Koskei (deputy treasurer).
It is significant that Mr Keitany, then the ODM-K coordinator in the Rift Valley, and Ms Koskei are allies of Mr Ruto while Mr Chege works at Mr Odinga's presidential campaign secretariat. Mr Bulimo is a political ally of Mr Mudavadi.
It also emerged that Mr Mudavadi had made individual moves to acquire ODM Party of Kenya through a former head of a parastatal based in Mombasa. Now an official at his presidential secretariat, the official is known of Mr Imanyara since their days in Kanu.
"All of us in ODM Kenya separately tried to reach Mr Imanyara so that we could have a party to take us to elections after it became clear that the Government was frustrating ODM," Mr Mudavadi said.
However, the handing over of the party at the Orange House on Tuesday nearly became an anti-climax as Mr Imanyara went ahead to hand over the registration certificate, the party symbol and constitution to Mr Odinga instead of interim chairman Henry Kosgey.
In his speech, the lawyer portrayed the Langata MP as the best candidate in front of fellow aspirants which forced Mr Odinga to apologise to his colleagues over the remark.
Yesterday, it emerged that the party on which the opposition hopes to dislodge President Kibaki from power was the brainchild of Kabete MP Paul Muite. Mr Muite, sources said, came up with the idea to help the Government - which went into the referendum under the Banana symbol - to contain the Orange group.
But the reluctance of those on the Government side saw Mr Imanyara taking over the matter to register the party to the chagrin of members of the Orange Movement.
The Saturday Nation learned on Friday that Mr Musyoka may be facing a new dilemma of obtaining the legal tools of ODM Kenya as he prepares the party for the General Election.
We learnt that the party's registration certificate, the party symbol and the constitution are in the custody of the executive director of ODM Party of Kenya, Ms Janet Ong'era.
Mr Musyoka declared that all documents which bear the name ODM-K should be surrendered to his team. He said the registration certificate, the orange symbol and the constitution were all recognised by the Electoral Commission as belonging to ODM-K and urged those who have joined the new party to craft their own.
New board
"They are all registered by the ECK and our friends should start re-inventing their wheels. I know they will find it very difficult because even their orange is so dark it represents a malimau (grafted lemon)."
The Mwingi North MP said they were constituting a new elections board and the national executive council in consultation with Labour Party of Kenya chairperson Julia Ojiambo. He said Justice (rtd) David Rimita had agreed to head the new elections board.
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