High stakes in Malindi polls as Uhuru, Raila draw battle lines

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s stay at the Coast demonstrates the high stakes in the upcoming Malindi by-election.

The President launched a water project and technical school in Malindi besides kicking off campaigns for the Jubilee candidate Philip Charo for the parliamentary by-election slated for March 7. Mr Charo was picked by consensus.

CORD settled for Willy Mtengo to replace former ODM Malindi MP Dan Kazungu who was appointed to the Jubilee government as Mining Cabinet Secretary.

CORD co-principals are expected in Coast to launch campaigns for Mr Mtenga in an apparent move designed to gain lost ground after the President’s long stay in the Coast.

The stakes are also high for regional politicians and the outcome of the by-election will cement the political careers of some leaders like Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi and renegade ODM Kilifi North MP Gideon Mung’aro.

Jubilee and CORD will also use the by-election to test the ground ahead of the 2017 General Election.

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This has sparked a supremacy battle led by the populous Mijikenda ethnic group in Kilifi keen to display their influence over the communities in Coast.

Mijikenda politicians led by Mr Mung’aro and rebel ODM MPs have teamed up with Jubilee leaders at the Coast to cut the clout of Mombasa Governor Hassan Ali Joho and his Kilifi counterpart.

Dependable force

Political analysts in Mombasa concur that the Malindi by-election presents an opportunity for the MP to show ODM that he wields power in the region and convince Jubilee that he is a dependable force in the Opposition stronghold.

“As Chinua Achebe says it is a case of ‘If a child washes his hands he could eat with kings’ for Munga’ro. He has to prove his worthiness to sit on the table of Jubilee mandarins at the highest echelon of the coalition,” said Mr Denis Omari, a Mombasa based lawyer and political analyst.

He said if ODM loses in the by-election it will also prove to the party that Joho and Kingi have lost influence in the Mijikenda dominated areas which form 60 per cent of the total votes at the Coast. A loss for ODM will deal a blow to Kingi’s bid for the gubernatorial race next year.

Dr Hassan Mwakimako of Pwani University says the stakes for Joho and Mung’aro in the Malindi by-election are high given that each has to prove that they can deliver for the main political coalitions.

“Mung’aro’s team is traversing the constituency saying Joho or Mombasa politicians want to impose leaders on the Mijikenda. But if one talks of Mombasa leaders it should also be remembered that JAP Coast Chairman Suleiman Shahbal, who is also involved in the campaign is also an Arab from Mombasa,” Mwakimako told The Standard on Sunday.

On Monday, President Kenyatta backed by six ODM rebels at the Coast and Jubilee leaders traversed Malindi Sub County to campaign for Charo.

The President outlined development projects the national government plans to implement in Kilifi in what the opposition has termed goodies to lure the electorate to vote for Charo.

“I request that you vote for Philip Charo so that we can work with him to develop Kilifi and Kenya in general,” President Kenyatta told residents at Langobaya Primary School.

Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo has vowed that CORD will not be intimidated by Jubilee’s use of state machinery and resources to woo voters adding that the opposition was still popular in the county.

“It is true that one cannot dismiss Mung’aro when it comes to Giriama politics but he is no march to the machinery being assembled by the opposition to recapture the seat,” said Mr Madzayo in an interview.

On Tuesday, ODM leader Raila Odinga also dismissed the President’s charm offensive in Malindi saying the Orange party is still popular and will recapture the Malindi seat.

“Jubilee team has been in Malindi the whole month but we will go to liberate Malindi and even if Kenyatta stays there for one year we will overturn their propaganda in a day,” said Raila while addressing supporters on Tuesday outside a Nairobi court.

Mung’aro argues that the election is an opportunity for the Mijikenda community to “unshackle themselves” from the Mombasa “Arab or Swahili control.”

“There is a politician from Mombasa chest-thumping that he will rule the Giriama and the Mijikenda community and give them political direction. Their time is over tell them there is Mung’aro,” said Mung’aro in apparent reference to Joho.

Mombasa Governor’s push to form the regional economic bloc, Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani that brings together six counties in the region has been opposed by the Mung’aro camp who claim its Joho’s ploy to control Coast politics.

But Mung’aro’s push to rally Kilifi and Kwale leaders, to support the formation of a regional political party, according to some analysts, has also failed to excite but has affected ODM’s dominance in the region.

“ODM fortunes are dwindling given Jubilee is using state machinery and to be sincere the ground is shifting. It is upon Joho to prove the opposite through the by-election. On the other hand Mung’aro is out to show ODM that he was an asset and a force to recon with in the region,” said Abubakar Yusuf a prominent lawyer in Mombasa.

Abubakar, however, said that if Jubilee fails to win the Malindi by-election Mung’aro’s political aspirations to lead the Mijikenda will be “badly punctured” and the loss could even end his political career.

Prof Maurice Mbodenyi, a close confidant of the MP, says the interest the by-election is generating demonstrates the significance of Kilifi in Coast politics owing to its big number of constituencies and voters attractive to both coalitions.

He said Mung’aro should thrive beyond ethnic politics and cut a figure of a regional leader if he is to make an impact in Coast politics.

“The late Sharif Nassir was from Mombasa but accepted as the region’s political kingpin. It is not true that the Mijikenda have always played second fiddle to the Arabs of Swahili, we have the late Karisa Maitha and Ronald Ngala who were accepted by all ethnic groups,” he said.