@Benagitau

The ODM National Elections Board chair Judith Pareno has vowed the party will use all resources at its disposal to win the Kibra parliamentary seat in the coming by-election.

He said the Handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM chief Raila Odinga would not affect the party’s determination to recapture the seat in the poll slated for November 7.

Pareno, who spoke yesterday at a Nairobi hotel after meeting candidates who will battle for the party ticket in tomorrow’s nomination, termed Kibra as the ODM bedroom.

“Kibra is our stronghold, our bedroom, and nobody will access it. Not even Jubilee candidate or others. We have what it takes to have the strongest and best candidate,” she said, adding that the party’s flag bearer in the race “cannot be beaten.”

“We dare them to come… they have a democratic right to vie but we know we are going to field the best,” she said. 

Force to reckon with

Jubilee Party has settled on football star MacDonald Mariga, who is seen as a force to reckon with and a hurdle to ODM retaining the seat that fell vacant after the death of Ken Okoth.

But Mariga’s candidature has been opposed by Morris Kinyanjui, who has appealed the decision of the board saying it was done in secrecy contrary to party rules. Cherangany MP Joshua Kuttuny has also said the mode used to pick him undermines democracy.

Speaking at Parliament Buildings yesterday, Kuttuny said he expected the party to subject all the 16 candidates to a rigorous democratic process before settling on the best.

“Politics doesn’t know a household name, we need to go back to the drawing table and put our house in order,” he said.

 Others who have opposed the election board choice are nominated MP Maina Kamanda and Moses Kuria (Gatundu South). The two on Monday said they would back ODM leader Raila Odinga’s candidate in the Kibra by-election. 

Amani National Congress has fielded Eliud Owalo and Ford Kenya Khamisi Butichi.