Mombasa, KENYA: Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar has insisted that there is no rivalry between ODM and Wiper party owing to the fact that there has been defections from one party to another.
Omar who is also Secretary General of Wiper has rubbished claims that the two parties are in a competition to win members;adding that they are all under NASA coalition.
Addressing journalist at his Mombasa office on Friday, Hassan said they had no issue with ODM as anybody is at will to join any party.
“We are part of one house and so Wiper will not turn away anyone who seeks to be part this party whether it is from within or from outside the coalition.” Said Omar.
Omar added that he also wanted to make it clear that former Cabinet Minister Chirau Makwere did not defect from ODM as alleged by other media outlets; saying that he was not registered as an ODM candidate.
READ ALSO: Mwakwere ditches Jubilee for Wiper
Meanwhile, Wiper has extended its deadline for registration for one as a party member; to 11th of March after receiving request to push its deadline from 3rd march.
“This will be the final extension we shall not issue any other; as we need to start submitting for gazettement to the IEBC list, for those who will be participating in the party primaries on 26th March.” Said Omar.
When asked whether there will be any joint nomination in NASA, Omar said that at under no point will that happen and that they will try their best to field a candidate in all the contested seats in every county.
One of the key ODM leaders that have moved to Wiper Party is Former Langata MP and Deputy Speaker in the National Assembly Farah Maalim.
Upon his defection in December last year, Maalim was the chairman of the ODM disciplinary committee and was actively involved in the expulsion of nine ODM members who had defected to Jubilee and other parties.
Maalim’s bid to unseat Garissa Town constituency MP, leader of majority in the National Assembly and a strong Jubilee proponent Aden Duale, has been complicated by Raila Odinga’s move to endorse Mr Nassir Dolal as an ODM candidate for the seat early last month.
