A book cannot be written about the history of political parties in Kenya without a chapter about ODM. It is a party whose genesis is centred to the Raila Odinga’s 2007 presidential campaigns.

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Apart from the Jubilee party, ODM is the second largest in the national assembly’s legislators' numbers. But ODM’s fame has become a little bit wanting in relation to the immediate last two by-elections in Wajir and Ugenya.

Despite Ugenya being the political bastion of the ODM chief, they lost the seat to David Ochieng.

Ochieng was seeking the ODM ticket but lost controversially lost in nominations. He, later on, switched to little known Movement for Democracy and Growth (MDG) party on whose ticket he won by a landslide.

That should send a message to the ODM administration as far as the incoming Kibra by-election is concerned. 

Here are the two mistakes the Orange party must avoid if it wants to retain the Kibra seat that was being held by the late Ken Okoth who succumbed to cancer on Friday;

1. Avoid biased nominations

ODM should conduct transparent, free, fair and credible nominations so as to hand the ticket to a candidate who deserves it. In case the nominations won’t be fair, it risks unsatisfied candidates seeking election on independent or other parties tickets.

This could lead to ODM’s votes being split which could pave way for their political nemesis to shine.

2. Avoid imposing candidates to voters

It is quite evident that ODM lost the Ugenya seat in the recent by-elections partly because of imposing a candidate to the electorate. The party should not forcefully lobby for their favourite candidate.

If ODM totally gets rid of the above two mistakes, it will easily retain the Kibra parliamentary seat since the region has been ODM’s zone for long. However, if such problems occur, it will be a hard job for Raila’s party to shine. 

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