Presidential hopeful Jimmy Wanjigi has lost an attempt to scuttle ODM’s National Delegates Convention (NDC) which is slated for Friday, February 25.
Wanjigi, who is seeking to battle it out with ODM leader Raila Odinga for presidential flag bearer in a letter on Tuesday, February 8, had moved to court to block the planned ODM meeting.
In a petition, the businessman turned politician argued that the notice for the ODM convention deliberately omitted some clauses of delegates that are mandatorily required to attend the delegates meeting, thereby discriminating against some of them.
But on Wednesday, February 23, the Political Parties Dispute Tribunal (PPDT) threw out a suit seeking to stop Raila’s big meeting.
PPDT ruled that the application that sought to stop the NDC, which is set to endorse former Prime Minister Raila Odinga as the party’s presidential flag bearer, was premature and lacked merit.
The tribunal further ruled that Wanjigi did not demonstrate that they had exhausted the party’s internal dispute resolution mechanisms before approaching the court.
It further upheld a preliminary objection raised by ODM that PPDT lacked jurisdiction to handle the dispute.
In the petition, Wanjigi had argued that the omission of the nomination of the party’s presidential candidate might expose the party to the risk of not nominating its presidential candidate for the 2022 General Election.
“As an aspirant for the party’s presidential ticket, the omission of this critical agenda at the Convention, in my considered view, is unreasonable, smells of ulterior motive, and is meant to curtail my rights as a life member of the party to participate in the party’s affairs,” he said.
ODM Secretary General Edwin Sifuna lauded the PDRT saying Wanjigi’s petition was filed through fraud and illegalities.
“The application was filed through fraud and illegalities since nine of them have denied authorizing the filing. The logical conclusion is that the applicants concocted a dispute and went about shopping for people to support them,” said Sifuna.
