Embattled Umoja 2 MCA Joseph Ndonji is making last ditch effort's to try and armtwist ODM party to hand over his name to the electoral body instead of former Umoinner Sacco tout Shadrach Machanje whom the party has settled on.
Ndonji was this morning reportedly spotted at the JKIA VIP lounge in a desperate attempt to talk to Azimio's Presidential Candidate Raila Amollo Odinga trying to play the tribal card.Raila was heading to Vihiga for a rally.Howver the former Prime Minister snubbed him.
The MCA who is hugely unpopular was hoping to convince Raila to direct party officials to substitute his name as the party's nominee for the Umoja 2 Ward but the former Prime Minister didn't give him audience which forced him to try and talk to other senior ODM party officials.
Since Machanje won the primaries while Ndonji emerged sixth has vowed that he will snatch the Nomination certificate from Machanje a former boxer and who is considered as an underdog ."Hiyo Certificate ataitapika, Mimi na cheza juu"'he was allegedly heard bragging.
Ndonji went a step further and took Machanje to Court claiming that Machanje's nomination was unprocedural despite the Party's National Elections Board handing over a direct nominations ticket to him twice.
He is now camping at Orange House hoping to have Machanje's nomination revoked after the PPDT referred the dispute to the ODM Central Committee.
The Umoja 2 Residents Association are watching the unfolding events closely and is appealing to the Party to listen to the voice of the people.
"Why is Ndonji trying to use his resources and clout to frustrate this young man.Even if the party decides to conduct an opinion poll today Ndonji will loose miserably.What is so special about Umoja 2 Ward that Ndonji is not willing to concede defeat?"a resident posed.
The residents feel that Ndonji is using his ethnicity to have an upper hand in the nomination dispute
"Kwani ODM ni ya wajaluo peke yake"? a resident was heard lamenting.
The nomination dispute has been pending in the Courts for close to a month ,which has attracted the interest of the public and the party alike.
This latest dispute has brought into sharp focus the role of the Political parties in nominations where aggrieved candidates try to use the Courts to arm twist political parties even when it's clear that Courts cannot be used to micromanage Party affairs.
Ndonji was in 202O arraigned at the Makadara law Courts for assaulting a pastor after he allegedly vandalized poles constructed by the MCA.
The prosecution stated that Ndonji and his goons attacked Jared Aru-wa by kicking and punching him, occasioning him grievous bodily harm.
The attack allegedly took place on May 30, 2019 at Kwa Miti along Manyanja Road in Tena Estate. The prosecution said Aruwa was walking to a hardware shop along Manyanja Road when Ndonji called out his name from his car and asked him over where the MCA demanded to know why he was destroying electric poles that he had put up.
Aruwa maintains that he never vandalised the electric poles.
He said Ndonji grabbed him by the shoulders and started to kick him, and forced him to stand while shaking him and forced him to admit that he was behind the destruction of the poles.