Kilifi County contests for both the governorship and senatorial posts pose many more challenges owing to numerous factors that distinguish the area from the other five counties at the Coast region.
The candidates for these two positions face the task of restoring hope to the hundreds of thousands of residents who are currently wallowing in poverty, with areas like Ganze ranked among the poorest in the country.
The county has seven of the nine Mijikenda communities, seven constituencies, seven cosmopolitan towns, serious squatter problem, the highest number of defunct factories and systems that have since failed to work apart from high levels of poverty, unemployment among other societal issues.
The creation of the county governance system brought together the Rabai, Ribe, Kambe, Jibana, Kauma, Chonyi and Giriama who, despite having been segmented into their respective regions earlier, have now to vote for the same governor and senator in the new system of governance.
It is one of the largest and densely populated counties in the countries boasting of seven constituencies namely Kilifi South and Kilifi North (hived out from the larger Bahari), Kaloleni, Rabai (created from Kaloleni), Malindi, Ganze and Magarani whose voters have to be rallied behind the candidates.
The region has a national outlook in its seven major towns as all Kenyan tribes are found in Kilifi, Malindi,Watamu, Kaloleni, Mariakani, Mtwapa and Mazeras towns where the winning contenders must be appealing to these cosmopolites.
The region’s dairy farming sector suffered a major blow in the early 1980s when the then powers be ruined it via mismanagement bringing down Mariakani milk scheme which was the life line of not only Kilifi but also Kwale residents.
The coconut industry is also on its knees after the then Coconut Farmers Co-operative Societies crumbled from following gross mismanagement at the same time when Kilifi Cashewnut Factory collapsed rendering thousands from all over the region jobless.
The senator position has elicited the interest of former Tourism ministers Morris Dzoro and former Lands Minister Noah Katana Ngala, as well as a former Industrial court Judge Stewart Madzayo Former Kenya Airports Authority Deputy Managing Director Naomie Cidi and Patience Chome are the two ladies in the race.
ODM will have to pick one from its nominations with Madzayo who is the latest entrant into the race having to square it out with Ngala who rides on a long political experience having served as minister for about three decades and his dynastic favour being the son of veteran independence politician Ronald Ngala.
Madzayo who has unsuccessfully contested the Bahari parliamentary seat might be the only factor to stop Ngala from bouncing back to active politics.
But whoever wins the ODM ticket would have to contend with Naomi Cidi and Patience Chome, both of whom have intensified their campaigns, with Cidi seen by many to be the current front-runner, even though she is running as an independent.
The governorship has attracted the largest number of contenders with Ganze MP Francis Baya leading the pack with his Magarini MP Amason Kingi, Kilifi County Council chair Anthony Kingi, former Kenyatta University registrar Prof Gabriel Katana and a former Bahari MP John Safari Mumba.
Apart from Prof Katana who quit his plum job as principal to the Kilifi-town based Pwani University College a constituent college of Kenyatta University the rest have political experience. But the don has urged residents to vote him to the post, which he argues does not need a politician but an administrator.
Baya who is also Immigration assistant minister already has an edge over the rest of the governor aspirants having declared over a year ago among other factors that are currently seeming to favour him the expense of the others.
Baya, a University of Nairobi graduate, served in the provincial administration riising through the ranks to become a powerful Provincial Commissioner whose tenure in Coast province between 1994 and 1996 rubbed the then local legislators who claimed the residents were by-passing them to get services from him.
While addressing a leaders meeting at Bedida Primary School in May, the late Stephen Ndune who died last month, said Baya had all it takes to be voted governor or senator following his effort to minimize police arrests on Mnazi tapers and addressing unemployment among the educated youth then.
“A group of MPs were not happy with his work as they thought he was overstepping his mandate by assisting whoever was in need whenever it was within his means to do so. This made them influence former President Moi to transfer him to Western,” said Ndune at the meeting.
Baya who is currently campaigning for the governor position on Lugari MP Cyrus Jirongo-led Federal Party of Kenya is viewed as out to prove to the disappointed residents that he is capable of taking the late cabinet minister Karisa Maitha’s mantle of Coast King through serving the residents of Kilifi county.
Baya who was elected on the coast-based Kaddu-Asili ticket in 2007 after allegedly being blocked from ODM soon after quiting as Kenya’s High Commissioner to India.
This disappointed coast residents who hoped that he would continue with the spirit he had as a PC and fight for their rights in the same way as the late Local Government Minister, Karissa Maitha, who died in August 2004 in Germany while undergoing medical treatment.
The former PC says to balance development planning in the area, there is need for the county cabinet to have representatives from all the seven communities without excluding the Ribe who are the minority to ensure that interests of all the areas are taken care of.
“Having been elected on a little known party, I have not been in the best position to push for my people’s agenda as I am not in the core. This devolved governance system will give me the best opportunity as we will be in-charge of our own affairs at the county. My experience suits this description and I have not changed for am still the Baya you have known throughout,” he told Kaya elders in Kaloleni two weeks ago.
ODM has minister Kingi who is currently moving within the constituency attempting to fight the notion that Baya is better placed for the position than him, has hit the campaign trail picking lawyer Madzayo as his senate candidate.
“The county governorship needs someone who has clear policies that will turn the available resources within the region into useful assets for creation of employment opportunities that will benefit everybody,” he said at Kaliang’ombe in Rabai constituency recently.
But Kingi has to aggressively market himself to the electorate especially in the Southern part of the county where he is little known despite having served as a lawyer for years before venturing into active politics trying his hand in the Magarini May 2007 by-election when he lost to incumbent Harrison Kombe despite spirited efforts by Prime Minister Raila Odinga who pitched tent in the remote constituency.
Anthony Kingi, hopes to use his current position as the chairman to the Kilifi County Council to sell his governorship bid as he currently controls a third of the county save for Malindi Municipal Council in the North whose wards are not under him.
“I have used my time at the helm of the county council to expand education, health and youth affairs facilities in all the wards under my jurisdiction and I think having performed this extent I deserve to be the governor for the role I am currently playing is more less the same,” he said at his county hall offices.
Former Bahari MP John Safari Mumba says he has a vision to transform the fortunes of the county into beneficial parameters to all the residents with eyes focused on agriculture, marine resources and the coconut industry.