Led by their Minority Leader Elias Otieno, the MCAs on Wednesday said they will drum up support for Okoth (Imran) to ensure ODM retains the seat in the mini poll slated for November 7/CFM – Jemimah Mueni
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 18 – Nairobi Members of County Assembly (MCAs) drawn from the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party have unanimously endorsed Imran Okoth for forthcoming Kibra parliamentary by-election.
Led by their Minority Leader Elias Otieno, the MCAs on Wednesday said they will drum up support for Okoth (Imran) to ensure ODM retains the seat in the mini poll slated for November 7.
“Our candidate is Bernard Imran Okoth and Kibra belongs to ODM, so those other people are just tourists. Starting today you are going to see these MCAs campaign for Imran,” said the Minority Leader.
Otieno retracted his earlier sentiments where he pledged to support the Amani National Congress (ANC) candidate Eliud Owalo, when he attended a burial in Vihiga County last month.
In the video, Elias was captured saying that Owalo is the preferred candidate for the Kibra seat, faulting Imran for having his brother, the immediate former Kibra MP, Ken Okoth, cremated after succumbing to cancer in July.
Retracting his statement, Otieno said since he was in Owalo’s home turf, he had to say what the people there wanted to hear.
“Let Owalo not take advantage of what I said in Vihiga and use it to campaign , I said that because the ground was hostile but now we have our candidate and we are supporting him 100 per cent and there is no way we can go against our party,” said Otieno.
Otieno, also the Kileleshwa MCA said it’s prudent to let Imran carry on with the work he has been doing for the Kibra residents since his brother fell ill until his demise.
Imran who had paid the members a courtesy visit said he is pleased by the support he is receiving from the ODM party, exuding confidence that he will win the seat.
“We have deliberated on recapturing the Kibra seat and also how we are going to work together during this campaign period, and I must say the support from the party has been overwhelming,” said Okoth.
According to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission, 23 candidates have been cleared to vie for the Kibra by-election, where 16 are political party candidates, while 7 are independent candidates.
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