The Orange Democratic Movement and United Democratic Alliance are fighting over dominance in the coastal region.
In the 2013 general election, the Raila Odinga-led ODM commanded an unassailable lead in all six counties of Mombasa, Kilifi, Taita Taveta, Kwale, Lamu and Tana River.
Governors Hassan Joho (Mombasa), Salim Mvurya (Kwale), John Mruttu (Taita Taveta), Issa Timammy (Lamu), Hussein Dado (Tana River) and Amason Kingi (Kilifi) were elected on ODM tickets.
However, in the 2017 general election, ODM lost the Taita Taveta seat to Wiper’s Granton Samboja, the Lamu seat to Jubilee’s Fahim Twaha and Kwale's was retained by Mvurya, who decamped to Jubilee.
ODM retained the Mombasa, Kilifi, and Tana River seats through Joho, Kingi, and Dado respectively.
However governors Kingi, Mvurya and Timammy have now joined forces under the Kenya Kwanza Alliance of Deputy President William Ruto to fight Raila’s dominance in the region.
Kingi formed the PAA party, which at the beginning of the year was supporting Raila’s Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition, but ditched the outfit for Kenya Kwanza Alliance in May.
Last month, Kingi launched a grassroots campaign where he intended to reach out to 1,000 grassroots opinion leaders and campaigners in all the 35 wards of Kilifi.
From the 1,000 grassroots leaders Kingi said each leader was supposed to reach out to six people, which in turn will ensure that Ruto gets at least 50 per cent of the Kilifi county votes.
Joho and Dado are pushing the ODM agenda whereas Samboja is seeking re-election on the Jubilee party, which is also part of Azimio.
In Mombasa, UDA and ODM parties are fighting to outshine each other.
However a number of candidates from various political parties have declared interest in succeeding Joho.
They include UDA's Hassan Omar, ODM’s Abdulswamad Nassir, PAA’s William Kingi, Daniel Kitsao (independent), Hezron Awiti (VDP) and Shafii Makazi of UPIA party.
Omar says ODM has since lost luster in the region’s political arena.
“Coast region is not an ODM zone, it is a stronghold for the coastal people. Raila has been part and parcel of the people who have oppressed the region for the past 10 years, we shall vote him out in the August 9 General Election,” he said.
Omar spoke during a meeting with the Taita Taveta community in Mombasa at the Mission to Seamen grounds last week.
He said the coastal region had voted for ODM in 2013 and 2017 with the hope that Raila will solve the problems facing the region.
“We voted for Raila not because he is our tribesman, but because we yearned for change. However, he went and joined forces with the people who are oppressing the region. This election year is our last line of defence, we shall vote Raila out and elect DP Ruto,” Omar said.
The candidate said port services were transferred from Mombasa to Nairobi and Naivasha during the handshake period with the support of ODM leaders in the region.
However, on Saturday evening, Nassir said Raila and ODM cannot be blamed for the problems that have befallen the coast region.
He said the transfer of port operations happened long before the handshake between Raila and President Uhuru Kenyatta on March 9, 2018.
Nassir said on several occasions Raila had said he does not support the transfer of port services to Nairobi and Naivasha.
He said on June 20, 2020, during the Building Bridges Initiative forum at Wild Waters in Mombasa, Raila said he does not support the move.
“On December 2021, during a meeting at Sheik Khalifa Hall in Mombasa, Raila categorically said he does not support the transfer of port services. He repeated the same assertions in February and April this year during some meetings in Mombasa.
“Surprisingly, with less than 35 days left to election, they (UDA fraternity) are making noise that Raila is to blame for the transfer of port services,” Nassir said.
The candidate said ODM leaders at the coast, including Joho and him, were at the forefront opposing the transfer of port services long before the handshake.
“When we in ODM and Raila were talking about this issue, you accused us of trying to cause chaos in the country. Why are you coming out now?” he said.
Nassir rallied the ODM supporters in Mombasa to come out and vote overwhelmingly for their party in the August general election.
“Mombasa’s voter turnout in the last general election was quite low, at 58 per cent. Out of 580,644 registered voters in 2017, only 342,337 people voted,” he said.
The candidate said citizens indirectly elect bad leaders by failing to turn out to vote.
“When you stay home and fail to vote, you give a leader with bad policies and plans the opportunity to get into office. We must all treat voting as a solemn duty come August 9,” he said.
(Edited by Bilha Makokha)
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