Opposition’s Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) has once again defended its decision to issue a direct nomination for the forthcoming Migori county senatorial by-election.
In an interview on Radio Citizen Monday morning, the party Secretary General Edwin Sifuna noted that the move was arrived at after much deliberations with the ticket contestants.
The party last Friday gave former Rongo lawmaker Ochilo Ayacko the go-ahead, a move that has been opposed by among others area Governor Okoth Obado.
But according to Sifuna, the move was inevitable due to time and financial constraints, adding that discontented quarters are free to go ahead and vie on other platforms.
‘’Sisi tumechagua mgombezi wa ODM na sio seneta mpya, wakenya bado wana Uhuru wa kumchagua ama kumchagua mtu mwingine (we simply nominated our candidate and not the Senator, Kenyans are still free to make their choice),’’ he said.
The former Nairobi senatorial aspirant added that the party was caught off guard regarding the primaries, saying that it was short of the 40 million shillings needed for the procedure.
This, he based on the recent Central Sakwa ward nomination which gobbled a million shillings, stating that the same translates to close to 40 million for the larger Migori county.
‘’Tulihitaji kama million arobaini kufanya nominations na hatukuwa na hizo pesa kulingana na muda mchache tuliopewa na IEBC (basing of the short window given by the IEBC, we couldn’t raise the needed 40 million shillings),’’ he added.
The seat was left vacant following the death of former Senator Ben Oluoch Okello.