A section of disgruntled ODM members in Homa Bay County wants the planned grassroots elections of the party’s officials cancelled over alleged anomalies in the delegates register.
Led by Ndhiwa MP Martin Owino, the members said that concerns raised about the register are yet to be resolved.
ODM is set to conduct grassroot elections tomorrow and Wednesday for ward and constituency levels officials.
But Owino expressed concerns that there are serious anomalies in the registers of delegates who should participate in the elections.
ODM conducted the first grassroots elections on November 27 last year and elected polling stations officials. The polling stations officials are going to serve as the delegates in electing ward officials on Monday.
The election has elicited controversies in Ndhiwa and Suba North constituencies over what the party supporters termed as doctored delegates’ lists.
In Ndhiwa, Owino expressed concerns that the registers which ODM National Elections Board (NEB) had published on the party’s website were not authentic.
Speaking when he met the party members in Ndhiwa Town, Owino said the registers contained names of people who were not elected at the polling stations last year.
“The registers we have seen on the ODM website do not reflect the real delegates who were elected. There are a lot of anomalies. It is also unfortunate that I am the patron of ODM in Ndhiwa but my name is missing from the registers,” Owino said.
In Suba North constituency, the party’s Rusinga Ward chairman Jamali Onyalo, members Cyprine Obonyo, Richard Ochieng and Maurice Tabu led members from all the four wards in complaining over what they alleged to be fake delegates’ lists.
Onyalo expressed concerns that the delegates’ lists which were sent to the party’s elections board had been doctored.
“The list of delegates does not reflect the results of the election we carried out. The registers contain names of many people who were not elected,” Onyalo said.
Obonyo said use of doctored registers in the imminent elections will taint ODM’s reputation.