Raila heads to Coast as polls fever hots up

Malindi by-election campaigns intensify this weekend as CORD top guns led by Raila Odinga, co-principals Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetang’ula visit the Coast.

The coalition’s top leadership will hold a rally tomorrow in Msambweni, Kwale County followed by another in Malindi to drum up support for their candidate, William Baraka Mtengo.

The rally at Mrindeni Secondary School in Msambweni will be attended by local leaders allied to the coalition. Msambweni MP Suleiman Dori will be the host.

The Coast visit will be Raila’s second tour of the region in two weeks.

The former premier toured the area immediately after President Kenyatta ended his nearly one month stay last December and this year early January.

Besides giving impetus to Opposition’s campaigns in Malindi, Raila’s visit is expected to counter an earlier spirited campaign by Kenyatta as he drummed up support for Jubilee candidate Philip Charo.

For the past one week, Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi and his Mombasa counterpart Hassan Joho have been on the campaign trail in Malindi to ward off rising competition from the Jubilee side.

A statement by Raila’s spokesman Dennis Onyango confirmed that he together with other CORD principals will tour Coast.

“CORD leader Raila Odinga is set to travel to the Coast this weekend for a series of public events including addressing campaign rallies for Mr Willy Baraka Mtengo, the Coalition’s candidate in Malindi Constituency by-election,” said the statement.

The coalition’s leaders are expected to escort Mr Mtengo to present his nomination papers to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) in Malindi on Monday.

Initially, there had been misleading reports that Mtengo did not have required documents.

This will be followed by campaign rallies in Jilore, Kakuyuni, Ganda and Malindi town in whirlwind of activities as the formal campaigns start ahead of the March 7 by-election.

During his visit, the President who was accompanied by a brigade of Jubilee allied MPs combined a tour of development projects with a campaign rally at Lango Baya Primary School.

The President’s side has been enjoying support from ODM rebel MPs Gideon Mung’aro of Kilifi North, Idd Mustafa (Kilifi South) and Kwale women MP Zainab Chidzuga who have openly declared that they will work with the Government.

Other than CORD and Jubilee, smaller parties including Kadu-Asili, Federal Party of Kenya and Chama Cha Uzalendo have also fielded candidates in Malindi.

The parties are competing for a about 55,000 voters spread out in Shella, Malindi Town, Ganda, Kakuyu and Jilore wards.

The Malindi by-election was occasioned by appointment of ODM MP Dan Kazungu as Mining Cabinet Secretary.

The Malindi by-election is seen as a litmus test for the Opposition. Key politicians on the rival sides will use the contest to demonstrate their supremacy.

The Coalition will be fighting to retain the seat while Jubilee which has fewer political seats in the Coast will be trying to propel itself into an Opposition zone.

Two weeks ago, Kingi and Joho reconciled ODM aspirants who lost in party nominations ahead of the Raila’s arrival in Malindi.