Raila Odinga’s ODM party has laid down plans to revitalise the outfit amid concerns of dwindling fortunes.
This is an indication that the Orange party may not be ready to play subservient to other political forces in next year’s presidential duel.
Under the plan, ODM will convene a retreat for all its elected leaders as it rolls out a massive offensive to protect its territories from Deputy President William Ruto’s Tangatanga camp forays.
Despite his falling-out with President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ruto’s political resurgence appears to be shaking up ODM’s most loyal strongholds.
The Star has established that Raila will in three weeks’ time chair a meeting of the National Governing Council to rejuvenate the party. The meeting will focus on a fightback plan against Ruto.
The NGC meeting is expected to approve proposals by the party’s National Executive Council to hold regional delegates meetings to fill vacant leadership positions at the grassroots.
At least eight regional delegates meetings have been lined up for about two months starting March, with the NDC likely to be held by June to pick new national office bearers.
The NGC meeting will unveil the NDC roadmap for the party’s national elections – the first of its kind after the infamous ‘men in black’ bungled the 2014 polls following a bitter falling out.
The Registrar of Political Parties has advised parties that are yet to hold internal elections due to Covid-19 to prepare to do so virtually starting next month.
Parties are obliged to comply with their own constitutions and the law of the land by conducting periodic internal elections.
Jubilee and ODM are among parties grappling with fears of being declared non-compliant with the law if they fail to hold their elections that were due last year.
ODM secretary general Edwin Sifuna dismissed claims the party had convened crisis talks, saying such meetings were part of the ongoing process to strengthen the party.
“We are getting back to normalcy in full swing,” Sifuna said.
There have been concerns that ODM is slowly losing grip on its porous political strongholds in Western Kenya and the Coast following sustained incursions by Ruto, a 2022 presidential front-runner.
Some of Raila’s allies say there is an urgent need to ward off further forays by the DP into perceived ODM strongholds if the party is to remain a formidable player in next year’s polls.
In the upcoming NGC meeting, ODM elected governors, senators, MPs and county assembly leaders will review the party’s performance in the last three years and revise its 2022 strategies.
Last month, ODM lost in the Msambweni MP by-election. In the poll, Ruto-backed independent candidate Faisal Bader defeated ODM’s Omar Boga. The defeat rattled ODM’s dominance at the Coast.
But Sifuna, the ODM spokesman, said the party has already done its postmortem on the Msambweni by-election and picked great lessons that would inform future political battles.
“We cannot focus on a race that is already finished. We have picked ourselves up and are ready to face the next battles in Nairobi and Matungu, which we will win,” he said.
In what is seen as a deliberate campaign to reclaim its lost glory, ODM will soon roll out countrywide campaigns to popularise the party in preparation for the 2022 General Election.
ODM director of elections Junet Mohamed on Sunday said the party will fight tooth and nail to vanquish Tangatanga from its strongholds even as he laughed off reports of dwindling fortunes.
“We are going to fight with Tangatanga openly now. We want to come back forcefully as ODM through a scorched-earth campaign,” Junet said.