Embattled ODM secretary general Ababu Namwamba has been urged to learn from history and solve his concerns internally without necessarily exposing cracks in the party.
Namwamba and a few legislators allied to the ODM have openly expressed their dissatisfaction in the party, and on Saturday threatened to quit citing frustrations as the key reason.
Funyula MP Paul Otuoma has already resigned as ODM's national vice chair.
But on Sunday, Nyamira County Assembly deputy Majority Leader James Mating’a slammed Ababu even as he made references to the splinter of the first opposition party in the multiparty era, Ford in early 1990s.
“There is an internal mechanism that we can use within the party to iron out issues without going public and making enemies aware of our challenges. The same thing happened to Ford which split into Ford Asili and Ford Kenya, making the government of the day then retain the presidency. This is because the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga and Ken Matiba couldn’t resolve their differences,” he said.
“We should learn from history and Mr Namwamba should explore the internal mechanisms before making the wrangles public. It makes us vulnerable to our political foes. There could be challenges but that isn’t the best way to handle them,” he added.
Matinga also challenged the vibrant Budalang'i MP to quit peacefully without making ‘public noise’ to pave way for other leaders to take over.
“And when you are not contended and you don’t want to explore internal mechanisms, there is a room to quit peacefully without making public noise. ODM is a party of order and any discord should be solved internally and not in public,” he said.