The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party has directly nominated former director-general of the Energy, Petroleum and Regulatory Authority (Epra), Mr Pavel Oimeke, as its candidate in the Bonchari Constituency by-election which will be held on May 18.
Mr Oimeke’s candidature now sets the stage for a battle between ODM leader Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto, whose candidate is the widow of the late MP John Oroo Oyioka —Teresa Bitutu — who contesting on the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket.
It was a move that ODM officials said involved almost all the options they had, including consensus among candidates who were vetted for the contest.
ODM Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna said after consultations, the party’s national executive committee tasked the central committee to agree on the best way to identify their candidate, which led to the choice of Mr Oimeke and not Mr John Billy Momanyi.
In the last election, Mr Momanyi contested for the Bonchari seat on an ODM ticket and came third.
“Unfortunately for us, we were not able to get a mediated consensus but considering all the circumstances and the advice of the consultant we had hired to tell us the best candidate, we have settled on Mr Pavel Oimeke as our candidate for the Bonchari by-election,” said Mr Sifuna.
The decision was arrived at after a meeting in Kisumu, chaired by ODM Deputy Party Leader Wycliffe Oparanya after a consultant whom the party tasked with carrying out opinion poll revealed that Mr Oimeke stood above the rest.
“We retained a very renowned pollster in this country who went round the constituency because various factors prevail in different constituencies that then determine who has the best chance to win and the science and the data collated by this consultant indicate that, given the competition we are up against, the best choice is Oimeke,” said the ODM secretary-general.
According to Mrs Catherine Mumma, the ODM National Elections Board Chairperson, her team met last Friday to go through the nomination process and one of the three candidates for the Bonchari by-election, David Ogega Oyugi, was dropped because he was not properly registered as a party member.
“Our rules require that one has to be a life member to run for the member of the national assembly. When he ran on an independent ticket in 2017 and came back, he did not regularise his registration,” Mrs Mumma said.
ODM will now formally write to its elections board chairperson who will issue the nomination certificate to Mr Oimeke.
Mr Sifuna promised a bruising battle to opponents who will be contesting in the Bonchari by-election.
Others seeking the seat are former MP Zebedeo Opore, who is eyeing the Jubilee Party ticket, Mr Onkendi Ondieki, Mr Douglas Ogari and Victor Omanwa of Party of Economic Democracy.
