Azimio leader Raila Odinga is banking on a radical and devolved elections system to tame the culture of bungled ODM elections and end the dolling of direct tickets.
Messed-up primaries due to the interference of the nomination process and easily compromised election officials have previously been blamed for the mismanagement of ODM grassroots elections.
A large election body and centralised administration of grassroots primaries have also been one of the sticking issues that have dogged the credibility of ODM elections.
However, Raila's bid to devolve the party's election management system could breathe some fresh breathe into ODM and signal a deliberate effort to restore sanity ahead of the 2027 polls.
The ODM party has scheduled grassroots elections for April this year across the country.
While Raila has not declared that he will take a sixth stab at the presidency in the next general election, his allies are piling pressure on him to throw his hut in the ring in the presidential race.
Analysts say Raila's move to unveil a lean team to manage the party's elections under a two-tier system, signals his resolve to get his hand on the ODM revamp process.
On Friday, ODM National Treasurer Timothy Bosire said the party's new elections order is the surest way to effectively and efficiently manage elections at all levels.
The former Kitutu Masaba MP said the devolution of the elections will decentralise the administration of primaries so that each county handles its grassroots elections and nominations.
"Under the new approach, every county will have its election officials that will administer both grassroots elections and nominations in what will bring about fairness and transparency," Bosire said.
The MP admitted that in the past there were some issues that discredited the nominations as influential individuals managed to manipulate the process to favour them or their friends.
"The devolved system is a game changer that will give the national office to focus on national matters," he said.
Raila on Wednesday disbanded the National Elections Board chaired by nominated Senator Catherine Mumma after months of speculations.
The ODM leader kicked out Abdullahi Diriye and Syntei Nchoe but retained Emily Awaita and Richard Tairo in the new three-member National Elections Coordinating Committee.
Awiti was proposed to chair the NECC while Beatrice Askul was brought in as a member of the new team that Raila hopes will reform the elections process and restore sanity.
"This is geared towards improving efficiency, promoting greater credibility and empowering the grassroots to play a more central role in the spirit of devolution which the Party holds dear," the party said in a statement on Wednesday.
The Central Management Committee also approved the establishment of a county-based election Coordinating Committee to be overseen by two people.
The reforms targeting the administration of the election are part of the many initiatives Raila is expected to roll out in a major revamp of ODM ahead of the 2027 polls.
A strong, credible and incorruptible elections body would ensure that the party's popular candidates secure tickets for the 2027 polls to avert any acrimonious falling out that could hurt the presidential vote.
The outgoing board was accused of mismanaging the 2022 nominations that triggered uproar and protestations after weaker candidates were given certificates in some areas.
The net effect was that the party’s performance in last year’s general elections nosedived drastically to a low of 87 Members of the National Assembly, down from 171 in 2017.
Those who bolted out and ran on other tickets made their way to Parliament and county assemblies, dwindling the ODM numbers against the ruling Kenya Kwanza.
Political Analyst Alexander Nyamboga said Raila is planning another stab at the presidency by first revamping his party.
"He is possibly in plans to run again but wants to ensure that the culture of direct tickets comes to an end and that nominations are credible," he said.
The Mumma team assumed office in August 2020 as Raila put his house ready for 2022 and amid pressure to restore sanity and credibility in the party’s nomination process.
Mumma had succeeded ex-senator Judith Pareno, who took office in 2016.
The party is expected to approve amendments to the party Constitution to provide for a devolved system of elections.
The ODM constitution provides for a National Elections Board of five members which shall serve for a term of five years.
ODM had in the past researched why the nominations were always chaotic and delivered a damning verdict in the elections board.
The task force established that rigged party primaries and poor dispute-resolution mechanisms were cited as the bane of ODM’s performance in general elections.
It recommended that the party should use various nomination processes including secret ballot, interviews, negotiations among candidates and direct nominations.
The report of the five-member Jonathan Nyukuri team was tasked with undertaking an “honest review” of the party elections and nominations process.
It returned a harsh verdict - poking holes into the compilation of the party lists for nominated lawmakers.
“The greatest vice of ODM is the rigged electoral system for conducting the party primaries,” said one interviewee as quoted in the report.
“It is felt that the party supports anyone during the primaries so long as such persons pay to be party candidates.”
The report also accused the NEB of not having clear guidelines for aspirants and no credible party membership list, forcing the NEB to use the 2013 IEBC voters’ register in the 2017 nominations.
There were financial improprieties as the team found that NEB was given a Sh250 million budget to carry out an exercise that the IEBC conducts with Sh50 million.
In the last elections, NEB was blamed for dolling direct tickets, especially to sitting MPs and governors in Nyanza and Western Kenya, triggering fury.
It was also accused of bungling nominations after procuring faulty electronic gadgets at millions of shillings which failed to function on the material day.
In 2014, when the party conducted its last grassroots elections, the polls aborted midway as chaos rocked the exercise that will be forever known as the ‘men in black’ episode.
Trouble started when a group of delegates led by a then-nominated MP caused mayhem at the venue, destroying ballot boxes and election materials.
They were demanding that party registers be availed before the process continued, alleging there were serious malpractices.