Deputy President William Ruto: Jubilee will wipe out CORD influence in Coast

Deputy President William Ruto with Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya when the DP opened Mavirivirini Hospital in Kinango yesterday.  Ruto yesterday said the Jubilee Party will wrestle Coast region from the alleged dominance of the CORD in the 2017 General Election. (PHOTO: COURTESY)

Deputy President William Ruto yesterday said the Jubilee Party will wrestle Coast region from the alleged dominance of the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) in the 2017 General Election.

Deputy President William Ruto has said Jubilee Party will beat the Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) in Coast region in next year’s General Election.

Ruto, who addressed several rallies in Kwale County, will today launch the Jubilee presidential campaign team for the region at Tononoka Grounds in Mombasa.

Yesterday, he told supporters in Kwale that the notion that Coast is an Opposition stronghold is a fallacy that will be debunked in next year’s polls.

The DP has been at the Coast since Thursday and has toured Kilifi, Taita Taveta and Kwale counties. Yesterday, he toured Kinango in Kwale and later held a rally in Kwale town before visiting Ukunda.

“The Opposition has no plan for this country. They can only generate propaganda and hold demonstrations that do not serve the people of Kenya, including Coast. Kenyans will have an easy choice,” he said.

Disrupt order

He said Opposition leaders failed to deliver development in the many years they served in the government and are currently out to disrupt social order through demonstrations, adding that the Jubilee Government has an impressive development record.

Ruto urged the residents to reject Opposition and support Jubilee Party, just like their Governor Salim Mvurya, who led ODM leaders to defect to the ruling party.

Ruto said Jubilee Party will support Mvurya and dismissed CORD’s assertion that the governor will not be re-elected following his defection.

Ruto’s latest tour of the Coast demonstrates the region’s importance in Jubilee’s re-election strategy after losing the area to CORD in the 2013 polls. Despite losing the March by-election in Malindi Constituency, Jubilee and especially Ruto has not stopped trying to woo local politicians and JP feels emboldened by Mvurya’s recent defection to its fold.

Although key Jubilee politicians who lost the 2013 polls have since faded into oblivion, Jubilee has benefited from the defection of key ODM and CORD politicians such as MPs Gideon Mung’aro (Kilifi North), Mustafa Idd (Kilifi South) and Peter Shehe (Ganze). Some of them have been appointed to lead Jubilee’s presidential campaign at the Coast, led by Mung’aro and businessman Suleiman Shahbal.

Shahbal said, “We want to send a signal that the Coast region has shifted to Jubilee. And from tomorrow’s launch, we will not stop until we change the Mombasa leadership.”

Shahbal defected from the Wiper Democratic Movement last year after losing the Mombasa governor’s race in 2013.

He said Jubilee government has fulfilled its pledges for the Coast people and it was only an “insane person” that cannot vote for President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election.

The leaders who accompanied Ruto called on Kwale residents to reject the notion that Coast is a CORD zone and warned them that they risked being in the Opposition if they voted for CORD next year.

The leaders included National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale, Mung’aro, Idd, Shehe and Kinango MP Gonzi Rai. Others were nominated senators Mshenga Kisasa and Emma Mbura and former Garsen MP Danson Mungatana.

Duale said politicians run for office to be in government and cautioned residents against perpetually putting themselves in the Opposition by making “wrong choices” at the polls.

Ruto said the outcome of next year’s election will be decided on the basis of tangible development that Kenyans will have realised from the government and not “mere propaganda from the opposition”.

Ruto visited the Coast barely a week after Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka toured the region and two weeks after ODM leader Raila Odinga also made similar forays.

“The launch of Jubilee Party in Mombasa will be a start of a massive campaign to make sure President Uhuru is re-elected and we take over Mombasa leadership,” said former Changamwe MP Ramadhan Kajembe.

CORD zone

“The assumption that Coast is a CORD zone will be proved wrong. In 2002, it was a Kanu zone and it changed and I tell them the ground is shifting to Jubilee.”

Today, Ruto will hold a meeting with members of the Akamba community in Mombasa at Akamba handcraft in Changamwe and thereafter meet religious leaders before attending the Tononoka rally.

On Thursday, he toured Kilifi County where he opened Godoma Technical Institute, held campaigns in Vitengeni, Rabai, Kokotoni and Mariakani along the Mombasa-Nairobi Highway.

The DP launched the Kishenyi Dam in Wundanyi Constituency and later presided over a funds drive for women groups in the area.

The 30-acre dam was rehabilitated by the Coast Water Services Board for more than Sh30 million.

Two weeks ago, Raila also made a three-day tour of Kilifi County’s four constituencies where he held meetings with local leaders and addressed a series of rallies.

Raila and Kalonzo questioned the source of funds Ruto gives in harambees.