The battle for the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) presidential ticket has taken a twist following a petition against tycoon Jimi Wanjigi’s membership and campaigns lodged yesterday.
An ODM member has gone to the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal, seeking to compel ODM to take action against Mr Wanjigi for declaring his presidential bid without following internal procedures.
Ms Catherine Wanjiku Irungu, a Nyeri politician and an ODM life member, also wants the party to discipline the businessman for using his campaign platforms to attack and criticise party leader Raila Odinga.
In the complaint filed yesterday, Ms Irungu also questions the authenticity of Mr Wanjigi’s ODM membership.
She says the billionaire’s life membership application was neither presented to nor approved by a properly convened National Executive Meeting as required by the ODM constitution.
“ODM has not ensured that Wanjigi completed the constitutionally entrenched temporal requirements for membership before announcing candidature and embarking on campaigns,” says Ms Irungu, who contested the Mathira parliamentary seat as an independent in 2017.
She wants the tribunal to order ODM to produce the minutes leading to the decision of the National Executive Council to award Mr Wanjigi party membership and his ethics and integrity report.
Ms Irungu says she is aggrieved that ODM has not enforced its constitution and rules by failing to discipline the businessman for “undermining the authority of the party as he keeps opening parallel offices even when ordered to stop”.
Through such actions, ODM has sabotaged its integrity and caused confusion among members, Ms Irungu says.
She wants the tribunal to certify her application urgent and issue temporary orders stopping Mr Wanjigi’s campaigns.
Mr Wanjigi has been criss-crossing the country, telling ODM supporters that Mr Odinga’s time is up.
The businessman said he would respond to the petition once he is served with documents by the tribunal.
Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho and his Kakamega colleague Wycliffe Oparanya, both Mr Odinga’s deputies, had also expressed interest in the top seat, but have since backed down.
Meanwhile, Mr Wanjigi has urged young people not to re-elect “people who have messed p the country’s economy”.
The tycoon, who was addressing university students in Nairobi, said the Jubilee government “accumulated a debt that now stands at more than Sh11 trillion but has nothing to show for it”.
“Your lives have been stolen by people who do not care. Let them not say they have a legacy like previous leaders. Their scorecard is disastrous,” the businessman said as he urged young people to register as voters.
The registration officer in Kasarani, Benard Msee, said more than 800 people enlisted as voters yesterday.
“Do not peg your future on political slogans. No longer should you accept money from politicians,” he said.
Reported by Justus Ochieng, Joseph Wangui, Brian Wasuna and Mercy Simiyu
