By Team
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) grassroots elections have exposed the soft underbelly of the blue-eyed boy of party leader Dr. Oburu Oginga, Nyando MP Jared Okello.
Okello recently hosted Dr. Oburu at his home, where he bragged to the electorate about having sponsored the motion to sack the ODM Secretary-General, Edwin Sifuna, during the recent National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting.
Oburu, at the function, said Okello has been a good family friend and that he has been visiting him both at his rural and Nairobi homes.
But back in Nyando, his opponent for the parliamentary seat, Kenneth Ooko, has been making inroads both in the party and among the electorate.
That is why he recently moved to the Political Parties Disputes Tribunal, which gave him temporary reprieve by halting the harmonized Nyando branch office process.
Okello and three others have sued ODM, Ahero MCA Kenneth Ooko, East Kano/Wawidhi MCA Moses Ochele, and National Election Coordination Committee (NECC) Chairperson Emily Awiti, accusing the committee of unlawfully taking over the harmonization process.
Okello, through his lawyer, argued that on February 24, 2026, to their utter dismay, the Chairperson of the National Election Coordination Committee (NECC), Ms. Hon. Emily Awiti, proceeded with the unlawful meeting ex parte and in the absence of the applicants, and issued a determination in favor of Ooko and Ochele.
They said that by the committee accepting the list presented by the 2nd and 3rd respondents as the valid list for Nyando Sub-County branch delegates, it was a travesty of justice.
Okello argued that on the following day, February 25, 2026, the Chairperson of the National Election Coordination Committee (NECC), Ms. Hon. Emily Awiti, issued a notice announcing that it would conduct the County Delegates elections for Kisumu County on Friday, March 6, 2026, from 9:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m.
“The complainants accused ODM and the Chairperson of the National Election Coordination Committee of having ignored the fact that Nyando Constituency has five (5) wards, represented by five Members of the County Assembly of Kisumu,” they argued.
Okello, through his lawyer, argued that each Member of the County Assembly is an elected representative of his or her area, and only two members representing two wards were part of the alleged harmonization meeting.
That the majority of the three wards, representing 60% of Nyando Constituency, were disenfranchised and locked out of the negotiation and/or harmonization process.
They argued that the actions of Awiti were unlawful, unprocedural, discriminatory, and disenfranchising to a majority of ODM members in Nyando Constituency.
They further argued that they have not only been prejudiced and disenfranchised by the actions of NECC, but also that their rights to participate in the elections and affairs of the ODM party have been grossly violated, contrary to the protections under Article 38 of the Constitution.
The decision of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party to appoint a new Harmonization Sub-Committee, in their view, was premised on the principle of the rules of natural justice, to the effect that the National Election Coordination Committee (NECC) could not sit as an arbiter over a dispute whose outcome it presided over, having been the organizer and referee for the Nyando Constituency grassroots party elections.
According to the complainants, the decision by the Chairperson of the ODM National Election Coordination Committee (NECC), Ms. Hon. Emily Awiti, militates against the old legal principle that “a person cannot sit in his or her own judgment” (Nemo judex in causa sua).
On March 2, 2026, the Tribunal issued orders suspending the implementation of the February 24, 2026 decision by the ODM National Election Coordinating Committee, pending the hearing and determination of the dispute.
Okello and Ooko have engaged in a bitter race for the Nyando parliamentary seat, with the latter enjoying the networks of former MP Fred Outa and previous political opponents of the incumbent.
Okello, in the 2022 ODM nomination, received a direct ticket and went on to successfully defend the seat after defeating his opponents.
Currently, most of his political opponents have rallied behind Ooko for the 2027 General Election for the Nyando parliamentary seat.
