Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Secretary-General Edwin Sifuna has revisited the rival Jubilee Party's decision to issue a direct nomination for the Kibra parliamentary race.
The party has since approved soccer star McDonald Mariga as its candidate, who was picked in the midst of a number of others, and who will face ODM's Imran Okoth in the race.
However, Sifuna now claims that Jubilee opted for direct nomination since it enjoys no support in Kibra, and therefore had no one to participate in its primaries were it to hold it.
In an interview on Radio Maisha on Monday, he accused the party of strangling democracy, considering that there was a number of other hopefuls who were denied a fair contest.
"These people lacked members to take part in a nomination so they called in a few people, interviewed the guy (Mariga) and handed him the ticket. (Hawa walikosa wanachama wa kufanya nomination pale Kibra wakaita watu wachache pale Pangani wakapea jamaa maswali ya interview alafu wakampa tikiti)," he said.
He also rubbished claims that Imran Okoth, brother to the late Ken Okoth, rode on the sympathy vote to win in the ODM primaries held on Saturday.
He said that the ticket went to the most hardworking person among the 10 aspirants, which was Imran in this case.
"I have not heard Kibra residents saying they nominated him courtesy of his brother, it's his good job (Sijaskia watu wa Kibra wakisema wamempa kwa sababu ya ndugu yake Okoth, ni kazi yake njema)," he added.
Also in the race is former ODM leader Raila Odinga aide Eliud Owalo who is seeking the seat on the Amani National Congress (ANC) party ticket.