On Saturday, November 15, local newspapers explored the mix of social, political and economic issues affecting Kenyans, focusing more on the 20th anniversary of the ODM party in Mombasa, where tensions are rising, alliances and expectations are changing from the celebrations.
Source: UGC
1. The Saturday Standard
According to the newspaper, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission called the candidates in the Kasipul by-election after reports of violence during the by-election campaign.
The chairman of the commission, Erastus Ethekon, told journalists that the hearings will begin on Monday, November 17, and warned that any candidate who violates the electoral rules risks being removed from the race.
Clashes between rival supporters have already resulted in two deaths.
The victims, identified as Ben Ondiege and Bruno Onyango, both aged 26, suffered head injuries.
Police said shots were fired during the confrontation, leaving others seriously injured. Vehicles and campaign equipment were also destroyed.
The Orange Democratic Movement, which has endorsed Boyd Were as its candidate, condemned the violence and accused the rival camp of deploying mercenary gangs to disrupt rallies.
ODM chairman Gladys Wanga was quoted as saying that the party will continue campaigning peacefully and asking the security agencies to take strict action.
2. Saturday Nation
According to the publication, plans are underway for the reunification of the remaining members of the powerful ODM Pentagon, nearly twenty years after the team dominated national politics.
President William Ruto, Prime Minister of the Council of Ministers Stay Mudavadiand former Tourism Cabinet minister Najib Balala are expected to gather together at an event called the ODM Founders Dinner.
The meeting, scheduled for today in Mombasa, will be part of the party’s anniversary celebrations and is interpreted as efforts by Ruto and the ODM leadership under Senator Oburu Oginga to form a coalition before the 2027 General Election.
The Pentagon emerged during the 2005 referendum battle, when Raila Odinga assembled a coalition of regional leaders into a visible opposition force.
The team was formed to give ODM a national image during the 2007 campaigns, bringing together Raila, Ruto, Mudavadi, the late Joe Nyaga, and Balala, with Charity Ngilu joining later.
Balala and Ngilu were quoted as recalling Raila’s ability to build strong national movements and identify young leaders.
Balala suggested that he was ready to attend the ODM celebrations, while Ngilu noted the difficulty of finding a leader of Raila’s stature.
The publication noted that the Pentagon helped bolster ODM’s 2007 campaign, even as mistrust grew within the alliance.
By 2013, the group split, with Ruto joining Uhuru KenyattaMudavadi trying to separate himself, and Balala moving to Jubilee.
3. Weekend Star
According to the newspaper, Raila Odinga’s longtime spokesman, Dennis Onyango, backed the call for a possible UDA-ODM alliance, saying that the opposition party is not capable of mounting a credible presidential bid on its own.
He said ODM must face the political reality and accept that its partnership agreement with Ruto, which runs from 2025 to 2027, gives the party little chance to prepare for the big race for the House.
The newspaper reported that Onyango rejected ODM’s idea to delay its decision until 2027, saying such delay would cause the party to fail.
He said that ODM should decide whether it intends to unite with Ruto or the former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua and start the conversation early.
Onyango recalled a conversation in which Raila told him that he had worked with former presidents Daniel arap MoiMwai Kibaki and Uhuru Kenyatta, and now Ruto.
Raila is reported to have described Ruto as the most targeted of the four, which, in Onyango’s view, suggested Raila saw a strong possibility of supporting Ruto.
“He told me that he thought Ruto was more serious than all the presidents he had worked with, so there was a high possibility that he would support him (Ruto); he did not want ODM to go there as a weak partner,” he said.
4. Nation Today
According to Kiswahili newspaper, new details have emerged in the court battle involving the controversial preacher Paul Mackenzie and the Tewa Pit Prison administration.
The preacher’s side questioned how he could coordinate the murder of Kwa Bi Nzaro while in prison, and how mobile phones and SIM cards entered his cell despite strict prison rules.
Mackenzie, through his lawyer Levin Obonyo, told the court that he feared an assassination attempt.
He claimed that after he returned from a murder trial in the High Court, he found his cell ransacked.
He claimed to see something like powder in his drinking bottle and pieces of glass near his eating area, saying that his continued detention put him at risk and violated his rights.
The prison administration responded by submitting documents that raised concerns about security breaches linked to Mackenzie.
The DCI officer working at the prison, Abdiwilly Hassan, reported that a search was conducted on September 20 after investigators received information linking Mackenzie to the deaths of Kwa Bi Nzaro, where more than 30 bodies and human remains were found.
The Malindi court had given permission to allow detectives to inspect the cell.
Investigators told the court that they found two mobile phones, three SIM cards, and a razor in the cells of Mackenzie and her co-accused, Francis Omondi.
More SIM cards and razors were recovered from the cells of their accomplices, identified as Smart Deri Mwakalama, Kelvin Sudi Asena, and Titus Munyao Musyoka.
All items were submitted to the DCI laboratory for forensic analysis.
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