Odinga dismisses governorship candidates favouritism

CORD leader Raila Odinga has assured ODM governors that the party nominations will be free and fair.

Speaking when he met them at a Naivasha hotel on Monday, Raila said that everyone in the party will be given a fair chance to run for a position of choice, saying reports that there are preferred candidates in the party are baseless.

Raila’s utterances come amid concerns within the party that some candidates were being favored by party hierarchy over others.

Siaya Governor, Cornel Rasanga, is among the leaders who have accused some officials of supporting his rivals in the race for the governorship seat.

The governor had on Monday indicated that it was imperative for the party officials to support his reelection bid since he was a sitting governor and a member of the party.

During the meeting, the governors expressed their concern over the rules and regulations in place ahead of the nominations with the leaders urging Raila to be impartial during the process.

Addressing the press after the three hour meeting, ODM deputy leader, Wycliffe Oparanya, confirmed that they had discussed the issue of coalition and nominations.

The Kakamega Governor said that they were keen to seek more partners so that they could go into the elections as a strong team.

“The party leader briefed us on the issue of coalition and we are impressed by the work he has done ahead of the coming elections,” he said.

Oparanya said that they fully support efforts by the former PM in seeking leaders from other political parties so that they could go to the elections as a strong team.

He at the same added that they fully support the report by the parliamentary select committee on IEBC which has already been adopted by parliament.

Oparanya said that during the meeting, Senator James Orengo who was part of the select committee took them through the report.

He noted that though the report was partially amended, they had faith in the work carried out and had endorsed it as they await the selection of new IEBC commissioners.

“Senator Orengo has taken us through the IEBC report as one way of preparing us ahead of the coming General Election,” he said.

Present during the meeting were the party chairman John Mbadi, Governors Josphat Nanok (Turkana), Jack Ranguma (Kisumu), Cyprian Awiti (Homa Bay), Evans Kidero (Nairobi), and James Ongwae (Kisii) among others.