• Wiper party aspirants and officials said both former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and Mbogo are in the race to succeed Governor Hassan Joho.
• On Saturday, Mbogo said he had been issued Wiper interim certificate to vie for Mombasa governor.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
Some Wiper members in Mombasa have criticised Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo for declaring himself the sole governor candidate in the county.
Wiper party aspirants and officials said both former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and Mbogo are in the race to succeed Governor Hassan Joho.
On Saturday, Mbogo said he had been issued Wiper interim certificate to vie for Mombasa governor.
He disputed reports that Sonko had joined the Mombasa governor race on the Wiper ticket.
“I was issued the certificate during our NDC in Bomas, Nairobi, last month by our party leader Kalonzo Musyoka who even went ahead to congratulate me on Twitter,” Mbogo said.
He termed the reports that Sonko is being fronted to run in Mombasa as mere rumours.
“Ignore the rumours spread on social media, I am the one who will be the Wiper party candidate for the Mombasa governor’s race. Sonko was there to witness me pick the certificate during the NDC,” he said.
But Wiper party aspirants and officials in the region said Mbogo has no authority to speak on behalf of the party.
They asked the MP to respect the party structures.
“Wiper is a national party with well-defined structures from the national level down to the county, the county leadership is the only one authorised to speak on behalf of the party, not aspirants,” Nyali MP aspirant Millicent Odhiambo said.
Odhiambo said having the interim certificate did not mean that the party had settled on Mbogo.
She compared the certificate to a ‘love letter’ during courtship which does not signify marriage.
“The interim certificate is nothing short of a love letter Wiper sent to its aspirants. I was happy to receive mine too. Tell Mbogo to calm down and await the party’s direction,” she said.
Odhiambo said Wiper is ready to take over Mombasa.
“As far as we are concerned, we have two gubernatorial contenders. The party organs will give us the way forward on how to pick the best candidate. Wiper will take over Mombasa and restore its lost glory,” she said.
Mbogo had earlier denied claims that Wiper has a spokesperson at the county level.
“There is nothing like a Wiper spokesperson in Mombasa, Kalonzo is the party’s spokesperson and he is in Nairobi. I want to assure my supporters that there will be no Wiper nominations in Mombasa for the governor’s seat. The matter is already settled,” he said.
Mombasa county Wiper chairman Sheikh Omar Twaha, denied that the party had issued a direct ticket to Mbogo.
He said the governor candidate will be picked in accordance with the party constitution.
“No direct ticket has been issued in Mombasa, if the party had done so, then we would have been informed as Mombasa office. As things stand, we have Sonko and Mbogo jostling for the ticket,” he said.
Twaha said Wiper had only issued three direct tickets to Wavinya Ndeti (Machakos), Mutula Kilonzo Jnr (Makueni), and in Kitui, which is yet to be finalised.
He said Sonko is a Kenyan and as such was free to contest for any position in the country as enshrined in the constitution.
“He has the right like any other Kenyan to contest for any seat in any part of this country. Plus it’s not like he is a stranger in Mombasa, he was born and raised here,” he said.
The chairman said they will support the candidate the party will settle on.
According to the party’s regulations, consensus, scientific polls or universal suffrage can be used to pick candidates.