- Mwinga was one of the champions of the Coast unity idea and had been working closely with USPK officials towards realising it.
- USPK secretary general Naomi Cidi on Tuesday said they will have to push on with the agenda.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
The death of former Kaloleni MP Gunga Mwinga is a big blow to the unity agenda of the Coast championed by Umoja Summit Party of Kenya.
Mwinga was one of the champions of the idea and had been working closely with USPK officials towards realising it, even though he had formed his own Devolution Party of Kenya.
USPK secretary general Naomi Cidi on Tuesday said they will push on with the agenda.
“But you know a party is always formed to eventually take over leadership of the country and so by extension and by necessity USPK stands for unity of the whole country,” said Cidi.
Mwinga formed DPK and decamped from Kadu-Asili through which he won the Kaloleni MP seat in 2013.
He lost to ODM’s Paul Katana in 2017 but maintained a good working relationship with him.
Even though he had formed his own political party, Mwinga was still passionate about the unity of the Coast people.
He had promised to organise a political meeting for USPK Kilifi county chair Birya Menza in Kaloleni so he can push USPK’s unity agenda.
Cidi said: “He was planning to join hands with USPK. When we wanted to join all Coast parties he was among the champions of the idea. He was very influential in most of the meetings we had.”
USPK officials had escalated talks with Mwinga over folding his DPK party to join USPK.
This resolve was strengthened by ODM’s loss in the December 15 Msambweni by-election, won by independent candidate Feisal Bader.
USPK chair Matano Chengo said the result was a statement from the Coast people that they were ready to be unshackled from the chains of ODM.
ODM has for decades been the dominant political party at the Coast, enjoying as much as 90 per cent popularity in the region.
However, Deputy President Ruto has moved to rattle the region and managed to erode some of the popularity enjoyed by the Orange party.
Ruto had at one time won over as many as 15 of the region’s MPs.
However, ODM managed to bring some of their ‘lost sheep’ back to the fold.
Chengo said the Coast people have been getting raw deals from political parties with roots in other regions that they have been supporting for decades.
“Now the wind has changed its course. The people of the Coast spoke through Msambweni,” Chengo said on phone Tuesday.
Bader, who had the backing of DP Ruto, beat ODM’s Omar Boga by 15,251 votes to 10,444.
In Taita Taveta county, ODM lost to Wiper with Stephen Mcharo winning the Wundayi/Mbale MCA seat with 1,190 votes against ODM’s Jimmy Mwamidi’s 588 votes.
ODM however won the Dabaso MCA seat with 148 votes.
ODM's Dickson Karani garnered 2,499 votes while the immediate former MCA Emmanuel Changawa of MDG supported by Ruto got 2,351 votes.
Chengo said the Coast people are ready for a new dawn, one that will see them ride in a vehicle they will be more comfortable with and which they will have more say in.
For years, there has been a clamour for a home-grown party at the Coast to take the lead in political affairs of the region, an idea the late Mwinga was championing.
USPK was formed with the sole purpose of uniting the Coast residents and giving them a platform through which they can fight for a bigger chunk of the national cake.
On Tuesday, Cidi said the unity agenda has rubbed off Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho, who on Boxing Day dismissed reports that the Orange party is waning at the Coast.
He told Citizen TV the ODM loss in the Msambweni by-election, which had been billed as a contest between Joho and Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya, a contest between ODM chief Raila Odinga and Ruto and a contest between the BBI proponents and opponents, was a one-off event.
“Winning and losing is what makes us human beings. The mightiest of all win some and lose some battles. That does not change who they are,” said Joho.
He, however, said a time will come when the region and its leaders will speak with one voice and revealed that talks have already started.
“It is expected in politics that ideas, ideologies, wisdom and words will clash. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have a goal as a people. We have already started talking what we will do to get that unity of the Coast people,” said Joho.
Cidi welcomed the remarks saying time has come for all Coast leaders to work towards that elusive unity.
“It is only sad that we have gained one person and lost another, who was a big advisor to USPK on the unity agenda,” the USPK secretary general said.
Cidi said USPK has roots at the Coast but also tentacles in all parts of the country and is ready to accommodate all Coast leaders and those outside the region.
“The Coast region has for a long time been used and dumped by the bigger political parties. The people have been given raw deals. It is time the people stamp their feet and decide the own fate,” she said.
“In the ODMs and Jubilees of this country, the Coast leader has no say. They are supposed to follow what they have been told. The USPK offers more say to them and they will be able to choose their paths,” said Cidi.
Chengo said the Msambweni by-election showed that the Coast region is slowly awakening.
He said the region is slowly taking charge of its own destiny by first unshackling themselves from the chains of the other parties they do not control.
“The Coast people should be in a national vehicle that they own,” he noted.
Edited by Henry Makori