Sources reveal that Adopt-a-Light founder Esther Muthoni Passaris will be vying for the Embakasi parliamentary seat. With immense backing from the Pentagon, she is strongly touted to be ODMs flagbearer in the constituency.
After she was deliberately omitted under dubious grounds as an ODM nominated councilor by the then Local Government Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Passaris is now set to make a debut in parliamentary politics and not civic politics that she was unfairly denied in the first place. Uhuru Kenyatta and his well known godfathers will have to go back to the drawing board. Observers doubt if the PNU/ODM-K coalition can come up with a more acceptable candidate to face and beat Passaris in an isolated by-election with the ODM brigade behind her. Not only has Passaris been a frequent visitor at the Pentagon House, she hardly misses at any social function organized by ODM Captain Raila Odinga. Last Thursday, the flamboyant Passaris was present at the Prime Minister’s dinner at hotel Inter-Continental Nairobi in a function attended by who-is-who in Kenya’s political and business circles.
It is also emerging that scores of politicians are chasing the ODM party ticket for the forthcoming by elections, with some constituencies like Emuhaya, Embakasi, Ainamoi, Kamukunji attracting up to 50 aspirants. Other constituencies due for by-elections are Wajir North and Kilgoris. All signs are that the ODM hierarchy is taking the forthcoming by elections very seriously, an indication that the party has its eyes set on controlling the legislative agenda as well as positioning itself for the next general elections which could come earlier than the year 2012.
Curiously though, despite the National Assembly Speaker having issued gazette notices earlier this month declaring Emuhaya, Embakasi and Ainamoi seats vacant, the disgraced Electoral Commission of Kenya has not announced the time-table for the by-elections, something it is mandated to do within fourteen days of such gazettements. Similarly, the country remains in the dark about the other three constituencies which never got MPs following the disputed general elections in December. This is a great injustice to those citizens who lack representation in parliament.
Even as we wait for ECK to announce the by-elections timetable, for the next six months, the ECK itself will be placed under the microscope when the Independent Review Commission probing the 2007 elections gets down to investigating what transpired in the disputed December 2007 election results including the role played by the ECK, political parties, the media, religous based organizations and the civil society. The ECK has already contracted a lawyer as it is due to appear as a witness(es) at the commission. But does this mean that unrepresented constituencies have to wait until the ECK is sorted out?
