The storm that is currently being experienced in the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party where members are resigning from their positions and decamping to other parties is a major issue that party leader Raila Odinga needs to address if he wants to keep alive hopes of him and the party winning the 2017 elections.
The fallout of some members with the party has been termed as a setback to Raila’s 2017 presidential bid.
Political analysts say that Raila’s hopes for becoming the next president are slowly diminishing with rebellion in his party.
Kiambu based political analyst Peter Ngure says that Raila has to act very fast and redeem the Orange party from rebellion.
Already Raila has pitched camp in Western Kenya in efforts to consolidate support following the exit of some members among the Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba.
According to analysts, Raila needs to stamp his authority as ODM party leader. They claim that Raila has become too soft on party matters giving rebels time to engage in activities that are threatening to sunk the party. He also needs to exercise some degree of toughness if he wants to see ODM succeed.
Secondly, analysts say that Raila needs to reach out to supporters not only in Western and Nyanza region but other regions as well. Analysts claim that Raila’s party only has support in Western and Nyanza regions hence other party members from other regions feel abandoned. They (analysts) say that for ODM to survive the storm and counter the rebellion, the party has to spread its wings to other areas like Mt Kenya, Coast, North Eastern and Eastern.
Thirdly for Raila’s party to counter rebellion analysts advises him to engage with young members in the party. They observe that Raila has old leaders as advisors who sometimes misadvise him. “Raila should engage with young members by giving them party posts for them to push ODM forward failure to which rebellion will not end in the party,” observes Peter Ngure, a Kiambu based political analyst.
Fourthly Raila needs to mend the previous mistakes the party has experienced. Analysts say that ODM has on several occasions been on the verge of collapse and failure by Odinga and other top party leaders to address the issues has seen them recur.
“In 2005 ODM was almost collapsing after some Pentagon members among them Kalonzo Musyoka, Najib Balala, Charity Ngilu and William Ruto decamped from the party,” observes Ngure.
Ngure says that the past mistake that ODM has failed to address is to blame for the current storm in the party.
The analyst say that ODM‘s popularity is diminishing and things could be worse if the rebellion continues.
The Orange party had been experiencing political storm following the resignation of Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba as party secretary general.
Namwamba quit two weeks ago citing frustrations from top ODM leadership.
Several ODM leaders among them Funyula MP Paul Otuoma have also resigned from their positions.
Others are Sirisia MP John Walukhe who resigned as Bungoma ODMchairman and nominated MP Isaac Mwaura who has decamped to Jubilee.
There have been claims that Ababu’s group is headed to Jubilee claims to which the Budalangi MP has vehemently refuted.