Kitutu Chache South Member of Parliament, Anthony Kibagendi, has publicly recounted his version of the events surrounding the contentious 2017 Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party nominations, where he claims to have won the primary but was ultimately denied the ticket to contest the parliamentary seat. His statement resurrects a long-standing debate on the integrity of party primaries, a recurring source of conflict within Kenya's major political outfits.

The controversy dates back to the run-up to the 2017 General Election. At the time, Kibagendi was a prominent aspirant for the Kitutu Chache South seat under the ODM banner. Following the party primaries in May 2017, ODM officially awarded the nomination certificate to Samuel Omwando. Citing frustrations with the process and its outcome, Kibagendi, along with other youth leaders from Kisii County, subsequently defected to the ruling Jubilee Party.

“It was my belief that ODM and NASA would provide free and democratic space for young and progressive politicians to compete with the old order. However, the party leadership knew very well that it was using us,” Kibagendi stated at the time of his defection in 2017, as reported by The Star newspaper.

A Postponed Election and Shifting Alliances

The political landscape in Kitutu Chache South was further complicated when the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) postponed the parliamentary election originally scheduled for August 8, 2017. The postponement was tragically necessitated by the death of the Jubilee Party's candidate, Leonard Mwamba, in a road accident just weeks before the poll.

Following this development, the Jubilee Party handed Kibagendi a direct ticket to be its new candidate for the rescheduled by-election. This set the stage for a three-way contest between Kibagendi (Jubilee), the ODM-ticket holder Samuel Omwando, and the incumbent MP Richard Onyonka, who was defending his seat on a Ford Kenya ticket after also losing the ODM nomination to Omwando.

The by-election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2017, saw a low voter turnout of 37.4%. Richard Onyonka of Ford Kenya successfully retained his seat, garnering 10,122 votes. Anthony Kibagendi, running on the Jubilee ticket, finished second with 5,074 votes, while ODM's Samuel Omwando came in third with 4,324 votes, according to official results announced by the IEBC.

The Broader Context of Party Primaries

The dispute in Kitutu Chache South was not an isolated incident during the 2017 election cycle. ODM, like other major parties, faced a wave of complaints and legal challenges over its nomination processes across the country. The Political Parties Disputes Tribunal was inundated with cases, including high-profile petitions that overturned the nomination results for the Suba parliamentary seat and the Kisumu gubernatorial ticket, citing irregularities. These events highlighted systemic challenges in conducting free and fair internal party elections, often leading to bitter fallouts and defections that reshaped local and national political contests.

A Full Circle Political Journey

Following his 2017 loss, Kibagendi's political career took another turn. He was appointed Secretary for Youth Affairs in the Office of the Deputy President, serving under the then-DP William Ruto's administration from 2018 to 2022. In the lead-up to the 2022 General Election, Kibagendi, who had been instrumental in building the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party's presence in the Kisii region, resigned from his position and decamped from UDA, citing internal frustrations.

In a remarkable political realignment, he returned to the ODM party, securing the ticket for the Kitutu Chache South seat. This time, he was successful. In the August 2022 elections, Anthony Kibagendi was elected as the Member of Parliament for the constituency on an ODM ticket, the same party from which he had acrimoniously departed five years earlier. His victory was later upheld by the Kisii High Court in February 2023. Kibagendi's journey from a disputed nomination loss, a party defection, and a return to win under the same party banner underscores the volatile and often personal nature of Kenyan politics, where party loyalty can be secondary to electoral ambition and strategic positioning.