Pressure has mounted on Orange Democratic Movement to expel its members serving in parliament and county assemblies who have shown dissent to the party’s constitution and ideals.
The youths, who attended a burial on Sunday at Ikonge said they were dissatisfied with the way the party handled its rebels, warning that they were a threat to the party’s grassroots growth.
They slammed the secretariat and called for its resignation citing that it had ‘failed’ to unleash on party rebels who were openly courting Jubilee government.
“As ODM youths from Nyamira, we are really disappointed with the party’s national secretariat. They have been tolerating leaders who have openly rebelled against our party’s principles. The secretariat should now resign and pave way for competent people who can run the party’s affairs. It’s really disgusting that someone courts with our rivals and he or she is Scot free,” said Dominic Ombonyi, who spoke on their behalf.
They gave the party an ultimatum of one month to crack the whip on errant members, failure to which they would stage demonstrations in the party’s county headquarters to show their dissatisfaction.
“ODM belongs to people and whoever thinks that cannot live to its principles should quit and pave way for a by-election. We are giving the secretariat an ultimatum of a month to do its job or we do it in our way (demonstrations). We would rather work with the committed few than a team that openly shows dissent,” he added.
They also vowed to ensure those who have openly courted Jubilee government are denied party tickets in 2017 nominations.
“There are some who are hiding in Jubilee and will run to Cord in 2017 hoping for tickets in nominations. This time round it will be rough for them. We know them and the electoral team must respect the wishes of majority because it’s compromised in some situations,” said Caroline Ratemo.