Businessman Ali Mbogo has said Cord leader Raila Odinga promised him a direct ticket for the Kisauni MP race.
“I sought an assurance about my future in ODM and whether I will be accorded a fair nomination. We agreed that yes, there will be a fair nomination in Kisauni and I’m 100 per cent sure I will be on the ballot on the ODM ticket in 2017,” he said on Tuesday.
This despite the fact that both ODM and the Jubilee Party have insisted there will be no free tickets, and nominations will be free and fair. Governors are however demanding direct nominations.
Mbogo spoke at Bamburi Primary School where he donated geometry sets, clipboards and exercise books to KCPE candidates.
He said he was assured of the ODM ticket when he accompanied Raila on his trip to Germany last month.
Asked whether he was promised fair nominations or a direct ticket, Mbogo said, “I was promised a direct nomination because I have what it takes.”
This revelation is likely to cause conflict within the party. Incumbent Rashid Bedzimba, also an ODM member, has declared he will seek reelection.
He is a close ally of deputy party leader and Raila point man Hassan Joho.
Speaking to the Star on the phone yesterday, Bedzimba said Mbogo is scared of losing the primaries and wants an easy way out.
“You cannot be waiting to be given a direct ticket in a competitive race. You have to fight it out like a man,” he said.
Bedzimba said no one will be given a direct nomination because “ODM believes in free and fair elections.”
“Even Raila himself does not expect to be given a direct nomination to be Cord’s presidential flagbearer. He is fighting it out with Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula,” he said.
But Mbogo maintained there will be no nominations in Kisauni.
He said an opinion poll will be conducted to determine the most popular candidate, who will then be given the ODM ticket.
Mbogo said Raila’s invitation to accompany him to Germany for five days “sends a strong message.”
“Everybody saw it. He [Bedzimba] was not invited for that trip. I was picked from Kisauni. So, it says a lot,” Mbogo said.
He said he could leave ODM if he senses “trouble” during nominations. Bedizmba said Mbogo is looking for excuses to leave the party because “he has sensed defeat.”
He dismissed the possibility of an opinion poll being conducted to determine the ODM candidate for Kisauni MP.
He said primaries are the only democratic way to choose a candidate.
Bedzimba has stepped up his political activities in the constituency.
He has been distributing food, clothing and school fees cheques to residents.
“Do not entertain him [Mbogo]. I do not. This is a man who has felt the heat is too much and wants to bolt out,” Bedzimba said.
He took over the seat from Joho who held the it between 2007 and 2013.
Mbogo skipped ODM’s 10th anniversary celebrations in Mombasa on September 10.
Bedzimba was present.