ODM leader Raila Odinga has found himself at a crossroads on who he will support in the Westlands constituency parliamentary seat.
This was after the son of veteran politician and Raila ally, Fred Gumo maintained that he will not allow his nomination certificate to be issued to the incumbent, Tim Wanyonyi, claiming that he emerged victorious in the just ended ODM nominations.
Michael Magero garnered 1661 votes against the second contender, former Nairobi City Clerk Phillip Kisia, who got a paltry 627 votes in a race that attracted seven aspirants excluding Tim Wanyonyi.
However, a few days ago, Wanyonyi shelved his Nairobi gubernatorial bid and turned down Azimio’s offer to be Jubilee’s candidate Polycarp Igathe’s running mate saying he better defend his seat than be a running mate to new entrants.
But Magero has written to the ODM party’s National Elections Board (NEB), directing it not to forward Wanyonyi’s name to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) as Westlands MP Nominee.
In an appeal filed by his lawyer Duncan Okatch, the United States trained accountant said that he spent millions to marshal support for his bid in Westlands.
“I spend a lot of resources and time to marshal support for my bid. The results were publicly announced, giving me and my supporter’s legitimate expectation that I would be issued with the certificate,” he said.
In what appears that the Odinga-led party will easily settle on Tim Wanyonyi to fly the ticket,Magero has not been issued with the interim certificate as required despite having won in the ODM primaries a few days ago.
It thus remains to be seen, how Raila’s party will navigate this situation considering Tim Wanyonyi is a stalwart in ODM.
