Coast will not return to opposition, says Madzayo

Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo said the Coast remains an ODM stronghold and said support for Ruto would be channelled through the party’s established structures. [Nehemiah Okwemba, Standard]

Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo has insisted that the Coast region will not return to opposition politics following the decision by late ODM leader Raila Odinga to work with the government through the broad-based arrangement.

Madzayo said ODM elected leaders across the region had joined hands with their UDA counterparts to support President William Ruto’s administration and, in return, secure much-needed development projects and empowerment programmes for residents.

The Coast region, comprising the counties of Mombasa County, Kwale County, Kilifi County, Tana River County, Lamu County and Taita-Taveta County, has long been regarded as an opposition stronghold since the return of multiparty politics in 1992, with residents remaining largely loyal to Odinga.

“As the ODM party we are in the broad-based government together with UDA and as our party leader Oburu Odinga says we want power, that is what we want and we will get that through supporting Ruto,” he said.

He, however, maintained that the Coast remains an ODM stronghold and said support for Ruto would be channelled through the party’s established structures. He warned those seeking to split the party to remain patient.

“We’ve been outside government as a region for a very long time and an opportunity like this that places us within government is what we have been waiting for and Raila left us in government,” he said.

Currently, only a handful of elected leaders, led by Nyali MP Mohamed Ali, who was elected on a UDA ticket, are opposed to Ruto's reelection in 2027.