The ten-year old political alliance between Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and his Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi under the ODM party has ended.
The two governors are now on their own, with Joho steadfastly behind Raila Odinga and ODM, while Kingi is struggling to find space in regional and national politics.
In Kwale county, Governor Salim Mvurya is stuck in the mud of politics, as as his Meru counterpart Kiraitu Murungi would say.
Mvurya has neither pronounced himself on the 2022 succession politics nor the clamour for a coastal political party. Although Kingi and Mvurya are the leaders of the more populous Mijikenda community at the Coast, they have failed to offer direction with respect to next year’s elections.
The numerical strength of the Mijikenda, which could translate to political power, is going to waste. It shall only benefit outsiders in this politically swing region. Kingi’s clamour for a regional political party has hit a snag, and Mvurya’s political aloofness has only served to worsen the situation.
Put simply, as of now, the Mijikenda community in Kilifi and Kwale counties have been left on their own. In the biblical parlance, they are like sheep without a shepherd.
The benefactor from Kingi and Mvurya’s political fallout is Joho, even though about 45 per cent of the Mijikenda voters in Mombasa county are the Mijikenda. Joho’s unswerving loyalty to Raila and ODM appears to pay off: He is Raila’s undisputed right had man, destined to national politics in 2022.
Kingi, who had also displayed similar loyalties to Raila and ensured ODM’s electoral victories in the 2013 and 2017 general elections in Kilifi county, has been jettisoned from the party’s national hierarchy. He is in the shadows.
As matters stand, Kingi and Mvurya have at least three possible options to catch up with developments leading to the 2022 succession politics.
The first option is to join Joho in the Raila/ODM camp. This means they play second fiddle in Coast and national politics. In effect, this would mean Joho’s victory.
The second option is for Kingi and Mvurya to join Deputy President William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party. But here too, there is a catch. They would also be forced to play second fiddle.
The Ruto camp at the Coast is monopolised by up-coming and ambitious politicians such as Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa, Kilifi North’s Owen Baya, Lunga Lunga’s Khatib Mwashetani, and Kisauni’s Mohammed Ali, who would not want to loosen their grip on Ruto politics in this region.
The third option would be for Kingi and Mvurya to swallow their personal prides and rivalries and join hands to bring the Mijikenda community together, preferably under the umbrella of a local party.
The victory of this party in 2022 would help the two remain relevant in pursuant of regional and national political avenues by forming working coalitions with like-minded emerging alliances such as One Kenya, UDA and ODM/Jubilee.
If politics is about numbers, the Mijikenda in Kilifi, Kwale and to some extent, Mombasa, have the numbers to influence regional and national politics.
This is the time governors Kingi and Mvurya hit or miss.
