The infamous ‘Men in Black’ returned to ODM, disrupting a sitting of the party’s Disputes Tribunal and scaring away its members today
The goons, mostly in black jackets, big t-shirts and sports shoes, descended on Mash Park Hotel in Nairobi where the tribunal chaired by Mr Willis Otieno was hearing complaints from aspirants.
The five-member tribunal comprising Mr Otieno, Mr Mohammed Hajir, Ms Florence Omose, Mr George Muthama, and Mr Charles Bosire was meant to deal with complaints about inflated voter figures, stuffed ballot boxes, wrong names on ballot papers, violence and claims of nepotism among returning officers.
MAN ATTACKED
It created a commotion, roping in other people who were waiting in the hotel lobby for their turn to present their complaints.
In Nairobi, where further chaos was seen on Sunday, an aspirant in Embakasi East openly declared he would have caused violence had he lost.
“I had stated on my Facebook page I must win the nomination in the race for MP in Embakasi East,” he said.
At the tribunal, the gang kicked the man, said to be an agent of Nyakach aspirant Pollins Ochieng’, and manhandled those who tried to intervene.
In the melee, the man managed to free himself and fled, leaving behind his shoes.
DERAILING TASK
The winner of Nyakach primaries Aduma Oduor said he had nothing to do with the commotion, saying he was not at the premises when the violence began.
Later, Mr Otieno and his team left the hotel. They said they would give further information on a safer venue.
Among those disrupted were Isaac Ongiri, a journalist who was waiting to receive written findings of the tribunal on his petition for the Kasipul constituency seat; Nyatike MP Edick Anyanga, who lost in the primaries; Suba North MP Millie Odhiambo, who was there to defend herself from her challenger’s claims; and Mr Onyango Oloo, former TNA secretary-general, who was disputing ODM nomination results for Kisumu Central.
“Some people want to derail the work of the tribunal by scaring the officials away. Returning officers were scared into announcing results that were not real,” Mr Anyanga, who came fourth, claimed.
“We were promised free and fair nominations but why would the elections board change results with pens in Nairobi?” he asked.
LANG'ATA RESULTS
In Nairobi, where ODM nominations were held on Sunday, the winners for various parliamentary tickets were Starehe’s Steve Mbogo who got 5,697, Kamukunji’s Abdulkadir Omar (2,782), Makadara’s George Aladwa (5,385), Babu Owino (Embakasi East - 6,093), Kibra's Ken Okoth (7,712) and Embakasi West’s Tom Onyango (1,241).
The party’s primaries in Nairobi also saw businesswoman Esther Passaris win the Nairobi ticket for the woman representative seat.
Ms Passaris will face off with incumbent, and Jubilee aspirant, Rachel Shebesh in the General Election, after garnering 65,104 votes.
The results in Westlands (MCAs) and Lang’ata (MP) were disputed, causing further chaos.
Reported by Aggrey Mutambo, Lillian Mutavi and Ouma Wanzala
