Mombasa Youth and Sports CEC Mohammed Abbas has resigned in preparation for the senator race in the August 8 poll.
He becomes the first to relinquish his post among the three CECs who are looking forward to take over from Hassan Omar.
CEC Tendai Mtana (Education) and Hamisi Mwaguya (Trade) have also declared interest in the senator seat ahead of the poll.
Omar, on the other hand, wants to be the next Mombasa governor, exuding confidence that he will beat Joho at the election.
Joho’s deputy Hazel Katana is also running for the senate seat on a Jubilee ticket.
Read:
The three executives are all looking forward to being nominated by the National Super Alliance's (Nasa).
On Saturday, Abbas launched his bid in Majengo area, Mvita constituency, where he urged residents to support him.
He was on a door-to-door campaign before joining hundreds of youth at the Majengo Hall.
Abbas said he has been perturbed by Omar’s kind of leadership, citing that the latter has failed to defend Mombasa at the national government.
"A senator’s role is to work hand in hand with a governor. But in Mombasa, we saw a senator who was always criticising the county leadership," he said.
"...he (Omar) failed to secure billions for this region," Abbas, who previously served as Transport executive before being transferred to the youth docket, said.
He said Mombasa, despite being number two in revenue contribution towards the National Treasury, is ranked 23rd in terms of distribution of resources from the national government.
"We are the second best in revenue contribution towards the Treasury, but we have been getting only Sh5.3 billion from the same government," Abbas said.
" Kilifi and Kwale counties, which are not near us in terms of revenue generation, have been getting a larger share," he added.
Abbas argued that Omar forgot his role and got absorbed in anti-Joho campaigns instead of pushing for equitable resources to the county.
"As a senator, I will continue advocating for youth employment in this region by pushing for more resources," he said.