ODM stops Raila, Joho, Oparanya vetting

ODM Party has suspended the vetting of 2022 presidential race aspirants Raila Odinga, Ali Hassan Joho and Wycliffe Oparanya.

The trio had expressed interest in the ODM Party ticket, which they will use to vie for the President’s seat in 2022, ODM’s National Elections Board (NEB) Chairperson, Catherine Mumma, said in a statement on Thursday, April 1.

“The NEB shall scrutinise the three applications, vet the candidates as required by the ODM elections and nomination rules, and subsequent thereto announce the next processes and timetable in accordance with the ODM Constitution,” said Mumma, without revealing the dates set for vetting.

However, the Party’s Secretary-General, Edwin Sifuna, in a subsequent statement said ODM’s NEB has suspended the vetting of Odinga, Joho and Oparanya until the BBI process ends.

“After consultations with the party leadership and NEB, the party has resolved to postpone the remaining NEB processes on this matter (vetting of ticket applicants) to focus on the BBI process,” said Sifuna in a statement dated Thursday, April 1.

“The NEB will therefore suspend the vetting and further processing of the applications until the conclusion of the BBI process,” added Sifuna.

Should he be successful in the Party primaries, 76-year-old Raila Odinga, Kenya’s former prime minister and ODM Party leader, will be running for presidency for a fifth time, having unsuccessfully contested previously in 1997, 2007, 2013 and 2017 general elections.

Ali Hassan Joho, 45, who is Mombasa Governor and ODM’s Deputy Party leader, will be seeking to run the country for the first time in his political career, same as Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya, 65.

Both Joho and Oparanya won’t be allowed by the Constitution to seek re-election as governors after their second terms in office end in August 2022.