Bernard Namunane And Lucas Barasa
9 September 2008
Nairobi — ODM is set for renewed jostling as it prepares to hold grassroots elections next month.
The biggest headache for Prime Minister Raila Odinga is how to accommodate two key regions, Western and Rift Valley, led by Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi and Agriculture minister William Ruto respectively.
Mr Odinga is already assured the position of party leader in the new leadership structure.
It would be taken almost for granted that the position of deputy party leader goes to Mr Mudavadi, who was his vice-presidential running mate at the 2007 elections and remains the affective second-in-command.
But with need to placate the restive Rift Valley region which has been grumbling that it got a raw deal in the Grand Coalition government, there is a strong push to have Mr Ruto become the deputy party leader.
Mr Kutuny said Rift Valley is fighting to get ODM deputy party leader position.
"We will not compromise. We have given up so much. We cannot continue any more," Cherangany MP Joseph Kutuny told the Nation.
He said the populous Rift Valley gave ODM close to two million votes in last year's elections and that it deserved the number two slot now that Party Leaders' position had already been taken.
Following the weekend retreat, ODM crafted a new hierarchy that dispenses with the Pentagon, the group of key regional leaders that fronted the party, and establishes a more formal leadership structure.
The party has been under a group of largely unknown registered officials who have been holding brief since it was acquired from lawyer Mugambi Imanyara.
But real power has resided in the informal Pentagon that included Mr Odinga, Mr Mudavadi, Mr Ruto and fellow ministers Najib Balala, Joseph Nyaga and Charity Ngilu.
Below the Pentagon have been the unregistered but de-facto leaders of the party executive who include Cabinet ministers Henry Kosgey (chairman), Anyang Nyong'o (secretary general) and assistant minister Omingo Magara (treasurer).
Since the elections and then following installation of he Grand Coalition government, some MPs have been questioning the continued relevance of the Pentagon, arguing that some members did not deliver their regional votes and yet were guaranteed cabinet positions.
According to Konoin MP Julius Kones, after dissolution of the Pentagon national positions in ODM should be distributed to reflect regional balance.
Deserve it
"Since we know the top position will go to Nyanza, we want the next one to come to Rift Valley and there's no doubt about it because we deserve it," Dr Kones said.
Dr Kones said since ODM has been championing for young leadership "we want most of the positions to be taken by new blood."
He also insisted that ministerial positions which fell vacant following plane crash death of MPs Kipkalya Kones and Lorna Laboso should remain in South Rift.
He said all MPs from region were qualified and that the PM should choose from amongst them.
The need for a higher position in ODM has been increased by the outspoken MPs from the Rift valley who have been accusing Mr Odinga of short-changing them in appointments and in the fate of illegal settlers threatened with eviction from Mau Forest.
Nominated MP Musa Sirma is among those campaigning for Mr Ruto to be recognised with a top post in party.
Mr Sirma told the Naivasha retreat that the province had been sidelined despite giving ODM high number of votes.
However, former Makadara MP Reuben Ndolo shot up and defended the sharing of the party's cake saying just like Rift Valley, other regions also had their own issues.
Some Rift Valley MPs, particularly form the south Rift, have been threatening to shift to another party, most likely UDM, if their demands were not met.
During the Naivasha retreat Mr Odinga warned the MPs of the folly of dumping a national party to move to a regional outfit. "If you form a regional or ethnic party, you will end up with MPs from that region or ethnic community alone," he said.
Mr Odinga also secured at the Naivasha meeting a resolution backing plans for conservation of Mau Forest, but at the same time moved to placate the Rift Valley with the demand for release of youth allegedly held by police over post-election violence.
The Prime Minister might need to do much more to appease the Rift Valley, and this is where the issue of making Mr Ruto his deputy in the party arises.
How Mr Mudavadi and his western region might take this is not clear, but there could be some grumbling. There have also been suggestions that Mr Ruto settle for the position of secretary general which he was holding in Kanu.
It is understood that Mr Balala will take over the post of national organising secretary while Cabinet minister Joseph Nyaga or an MP from Northern Kenya becomes the treasurer.
The unregistered officials, Mr Kosgey and Prof Nyong'o, are however also keen to retain positions in the new line up which is set to be fine-tuned next week before preparations for grassroots elections begin.
Mr Odinga is also grappling with the choice of the politician who will be named minister in place of the late Kones. It is understood the he prefers Buret MP Franklin Bett, while Mr Ruto is canvassing for assistant minister Charles Keter.
ODM has set its grassroots elections for November 22 to November 24.
On Tuesday, Prof Nyong'o denied that Pentagon has been an organ of governance in ODM nor was it under discussion regarding its existence.
He said the Pentagon was established as an informal consultative forum. "You cannot abolish an informal institution nor can you legislate its existence," he said.
He named Strategic Planning Unit as another ODM consultative forum and that it, together with Pentagon will continue to exist "notwithstanding the media propaganda bent at creating imaginary wars within the party."Pentagon members will continue to play leading roles in the party given their history and the mantle of leadership bestowed upon them by the electorate," he said.During the Sunday-Monday retreat at Simba Lodge Hotel in Naivasha, participants endorsed changes to the party constitution in a bid to revitalise it and conform with Political Parties Act.On Monday, Mr Odinga in what appeared to reference to fighting for positions in party ahead of 2012 elections, warned against early campaigns.Mr Odinga said it was wrong for some members to argue that 2012 was around the corner and that the party should start preparing for the polls.He said the country had just come from elections and that people expected "us" to deliver on promises made to them.
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