ODM MEETING IN NYANZA PAINTS PARTY IN TERMINAL INTERNAL CRISIS

The recent flurry of ODM  meetings in Nyanza  has unmasked  a party  in deep internal crisis.
Raila Odinga held a delegates  conference at Oyugis Community  Centre which is located at the Sikri  School  of  the Blind and attended by the late Otieno Kajwang. Nairobi  Evans Kidero conducted  a funds  drive  at  the  Homa-Bay  High  School  in Homa-Bay town in the same county. The two functions were 40 kilometres apart.
A number of ODM MPs from Homa Bay and Migori counties skipped Raila’s meeting, sending out signals that all was not well within the party. This was after rumours  had gone round that elected party  MPs who are perceived as rebellious  would be roughed up, heckled and  perhaps beaten up by hired political  goons who were ferried into the area  from as far as Kibera, Langata, Nyakach, Busia  and  Kisumu would  be deployed  to deal with  party dissidents.
And  the  rumours   turned out  to be credible in a way because  when  the  Kabond-Kasipul MP Silvance Osele  turned  up at  Sikri,  he  was roughed up by the hired goons.
Raila intervened  and  restrained  the  youth from meting out more  punishment to the youthful vocal MP.
Osele later defended himself  saying he was late for the meeting  because  he  was  left  by the morning  Nairobi flight. He   reaffirmed his unwavering  loyalty to Cord and ODM.
About a dozen Luo ODM MPs and prominent sons and daughters from the region are  said  to have  been  identified  and  classified  as  rebels undermining the authority of Raila as the Luo political kingpin. Their  only  sin is for them to independently  speak out their minds  and  the advocacy stand   for constructive  engagement  between  the  Cord  opposition  and the  Jubilee  government  headed  by  President  Uhuru  Kenyatta.
Those regarded as rebellious  include  Silvance Osele (Kabondo-Kasipul) Agustine  Neto  (Ndhiwa) Miillie Odhiambo (Mbita), James  Rege (Karachuonyo), Dalmas  Otieno (Rongo),  David  Ochieng (Ugenya), Ken  Obura (Kisumu  Central ), Jared  Kopiyo (Awendo), George  Omer (Rangwe) and Oyugis  Magwanga (Kasipul )
Those  in attendance at Raila’s Sikri meeting  included Kajwang  (Homa-Bay),  Senator  James  Orengo (Siaya), Millie  Odhiambo (Mbita), John  Mbadi  (Suba), Oburu  Odinga (nominated), Fred  Outa (Nyando), Junet  Mohammed (Suna  East), Governor  Cyprian Awiti (Homa Bay), Jack  Ranguma (Kisumu)  and  Cornel  Rasanga  (Siaya)
However, there was a brief  stand-off between a battery of journalists at Raila’s function and political goons, the so-called Men in Black who made spirited attempts  to block reporters and threatened  to eject them out despite pleas by Raila’s spokesman  Dennis  Onyango. The goons yelled at the pressmen “Hatutaki mambo yenu  hapa” (We don’t want your nonsense here). This  came after some politicians accused  the media of fueling the internal feuds in the troubled OMD. Some youth also attempted to block  journalists  from focusing their  cameras at the main dais.
MPs   who  attended  Kidero’s  fundraising  meeting  include  Peter  Kaluma (Homa Bay town), George  Oner (Rangwe) former  Rangwe  MP Martin Ogindo), James  Rege (Karachuonyo) who  later hosted  the Internal  Security  cabinet secretary, Joseph Ole Lenku at an SDA  Church  harambee in Kanyaluo  in Karachuonyo where over Sh 2 million  was  raised. The MP  also hosted  Ole Lenku  at  another  meeting  held  at  Rachuonyo  near  Kendu Bay. Kidero’s fundraising meeting raised Sh7 million for the construction  of  three burnt dormitories at the school.   Raila sent Sh200,000 through MP Kaluma.