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Why Omingo Magara Should Face Party Nominations

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Published on Sunday, 24 January 2010 07:38
I find the ridiculous demand by some - like Joshua Kuttuny - that former South Mugirango MP Omingo Magara should not be subjected to the party nomination process laughable. They argue that because he is the national party treasurer and also because the court that nullified his election cleared him of any wrongdoing, then he should get automatic party nomination. Both arguments are as flawed as they are absurd. These attempts to shield Mr. Magara from competition stem from the realization by his handlers that because of recent events in Gusii politics, if he is subjected a party nomination he stands no chance of clinching the party’s ticket.

A politician holding a national party office cannot be exempted from the party’s electoral processes based only on such position. This is really a matter of common sense. The second argument is equally absurd but I will delve deeper into it because as much as it is an attempt to defeat democracy by circumventing the party’s electoral process, it sounds a little sane. It is true that in the run up to the 2007 elections, Magara did indeed beat all the other aspirants for the party ticket in the party nominations. It is also true that he is blameless in as far as the nullification of his election goes. The fault is squarely that of the electoral commission. However, equally true is the fact that 2007 is more than two years ago and there is no guarantee that whoever won the party nominations then, is still the most popular among the party members two years on. Consequently therefore, it is only fair that everyone gets a chance to vie for the party’s ticket so that the ODM ends up with the strongest possible candidate. 

Recent events within the ODM as well as within Gusii are an indicator to why Mr. Magara is jittery about party nominations. Because Mr. Magara’s loyalties have shifted to a faction within the ODM that has formed a tribal alliance with politicians from other political parties and which is hostile to the ODM, it would only be fair for the ODM members in South Mugirango to decide if he is still the most popular candidate that the ODM can field. The fact too, that he is allied to William Ruto who after the Post election Violence which specifically targeted members of the Agikuyu and the Abagusii communities in the Rift valley, is perhaps the most loathed politician in Gusii makes it even more important that the party members in South Mugirango get to decide whom they prefer to carry the party flag to the election. Mr. Magara failed to see the wisdom in the Swahili saying “Usitukane Wakunga kama bado uzazi ungalipo” (Do not insult midwives before you are through with child bearing) 

But even without his suicidal association with the masterminds of “Operation Kuondoa Madoadoa”, the party constitution is very clear that whenever there is an impending election of any nature, all aspirants for the party’s ticket be given a fair chance to compete for it. What many fail to understand is, why Mr. Magara and his “Kuondoa Madoadoa” friends are afraid of facing the people of South Mugirango in party nominations if their conscience is clear? Is it because among them are victims of the barbaric atrocities that were visited upon the Abagusii in the Rift Valley? Could some of the women lining up to vote during the nominations have been gang raped or widowed by the warriors of Mr. Magara’s associates? Could the people of South Mugirango be itching to show that they are not amused by his betrayal? Only party nominations can provide these answers.

That Mr. Magara is not averse to taking short cuts to achieve political goals is no secret. In the run up to the 2007 elections, because he wanted to hand pick those who got the ODM tickets in Gusii, he and his friends hatched a sinister plot in which they unleashed a rumour to the effect that Mzee Moi had planted moles in the ODM nominations in Gusii. The party’s electoral board was thus duped into handing the party tickets to undeserving candidates who hoped to ride on the ODM wave that was sweeping through Gusii. When the Party discovered this, it persuaded some of those candidates who had been denied the chance, to vie on the tickets of ODM allied parties. Two of them – Hon. Onyonka and Hon. Monda – went ahead to make it to parliament. Because the party’s votes were divided, the party lost four seats in Gusii even when all indications had been that it would sweep all ten. As Magara faces party nominations, many must be relishing the prospect of him being floored by Mr. Ibrahim Ochoi whom in all likelihood will end up as the next MP for South Mugirango - and for them, the chickens will have come to roost.