Umoja 2 residents are up in arms over a decision by the incumbent MCA Joseph Ndonji and other Aspirants who lost in the recently concluded nomination exercise after they moved to the party’s dispute tribunal to contest a win by a former Ummoinner tout.
Ndonji, Kevin Kwere and Calvin Oloo today moved to the party’s top organ seeking to nullify Shadrack Machanje’s win who won by 249 votes during the primaries conducted last week on Friday.
The Tribunal is expected to give its ruling tomorrow morning.
According to area residents, Ndonji and Kwere have been heard bragging that they have already compromised officials of the tribunal.
Ndonji is said to have camped at the ODM offices vowing that they will not allow a “mere tout” to take leadership over Umoja 2 Ward.
“They told Machanje to his face that a Luhya can never get the ODM nomination certificate in Umoja 2.
Kwere, Ndonji and Oloo said that they used millions to campaign and that the High and mighty in the party’s leadership has been pocketed,” Juliet Mayo told a local news outlet.
The residents have declared that should the party fail to gazette Machanje as the ODM candidate, then they will support candidates from other parties.
Shadrack Machanje, who is an Ummoinner Sacco Manager had trounced the incumbent MCA Joseph Ndonji in the just concluded ODM nomination exercise.
Machanje garnered 249 votes compared to Ndonji who got 163 votes in a hugely contested exercise.
Protests rocked Umoja Two Ward last week when supporters of Machanje lit bonfires, waved placards and chanted slogans of protest against the party’s reluctance to issue a certificate to him.
Machanje beat 13 other aspirants including incumbent Member of County Assembly (MCA) Joseph Ndonji.
Machanje and his supporters accused Ndonji of activating his connections with party officials to illegally acquire the ticket despite losing the nomination contest and vowed to settle at nothing less than a ticket to contest in the August 9, General Election.
The race attracted 13 aspirants in a contest in which 518 votes were cast.
Ndonji has had a problematic run during his tenure with residents complaining that the legislator has done little to address a serious water shortage crisis.
Some of the protesters alleged that Ndonji does not live in the area which is why he did not have touch with their day to day grievances and urged ODM to transparently grant Machanje a certificate for his deserved win.
There have also been murmurs on the ground that Ndonji and the rest of the contestants are against Machanje because of his Luhya tribe.
Interestingly, of the 13 contestants, only Machanje and Ruth Wambua are not from the Luo community.
In a recent meet-the-people tour, Ndoji reportedly bragged to residents that despite them not voting for him, his financial muscle still got him to the County Assembly.
“Soma label kama Wanyonyi” he allegedly roared out to the voters.
Ndoji is a man never too far from publicity.
Last year, he was in the limelight after he was charged alongside his goons for assaulting a pastor.
Ndonji was accused of harming Jared Ouma Aruwa by kicking and punching him on May 30, 2019, at Kwa Miti along Manyanja Road in Tena Estate.
The MCA was arrested on November 21, 2019, but later released on a Sh5,000 police cash bail.
Arwa reported that he was walking to a hardware shop along Manyanja Road to buy paint at around 11 am when the MCA, who was inside a vehicle, called out his name.
He said the MCA angrily asked him why he was frustrating his development projects by destroying electric poles that he had put up.
