On Tuesday, November 20, 2018, Migori Governor Okoth Obado and two other Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) members pushed back against a recommendation that they be expelled from the party, insisting they were not leaving.
The three — Obado, Joseph Nyambori and Festos Mapesa — were flagged by an ODM disciplinary committee over what it described as gross misconduct and breaches of party rules. The committee said Obado had openly backed Deputy President William Ruto and had also defied the party during the Migori senatorial by-election by supporting a rival candidate.
In its findings, the committee accused the governor of repeated insubordination and said he had ignored summons to appear before it. Joseph Muniko, who chaired the committee, said: “He has embarrassed the party and the party leader… he has also been campaigning for another candidate outside of the party… we summoned him to come yet he ignored all sittings,” the committee chairperson, Joseph Muniko, said.
Obado dismissed the report as baseless in a statement to Kenyans, while the final call on whether the recommendation stands was left to ODM’s National Disciplinary Committee.
