Costly delay in naming party

By PATRICK BEJA

Flamboyant politician Najib Balala has been missing in action months after promising Kenyans that he would unveil a political party to rally Coast residents in the next elections.  

The former Tourism minister has kept friend and foe guessing two years after he started drifting away from Prime Minister Raila Odinga.

Mr Balala’s absence from recent high profile political events has sparked speculation about how narrow his political options might become.

It came as a big surprise to many Coast residents when the Mvita MP failed to turn up at a rally held by Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi in Tononoka grounds recently.

Many had expected to see the former ODM Pentagon member at the function since he had been seen at the launch of UDF, on whose ticket Mudavadi plans to vie in the next elections.

Mr Balala’s subsequent absence from the launch of The National Alliance (TNA) headed by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru has had tongues wagging at the Coast.

Speculation is rife that Mr Balala’s delay in declaring his political plans might prove costly for him in the end.

A political analyst at the Coast, Owen Baya believes Mr Balala has lost his prominence by delaying his next move after he differed with Mr Odinga.

“He should have done it like Musalia Mudavadi; he should have resigned as minister before being sacked and moved to another political party immediately before losing steam,” Dr Baya said.

Dr Baya, a planning economist at Pwani University College in Kilifi, says the political scene in the country has changed so much that Mr Balala may be forced to play second fiddle to other politicians after he failed to come up with his own political party.

The United Democratic Forum (UDF) has already settled on politician Suleiman Shahbal as its Coast point man while William Ruto of the United Republican Party (URP) has identified Chirau Ali Mwakwere as his man at the Coast.

“The only option for Balala is to rush to The National Alliance and this way he can be Uhuru’s Coast point man,” Dr Baya says.

He thinks Mr Balala has ceded too much ground to Abulswamad Nassir in Mvita and has to work hard to regain lost ground.

“It is clear ODM is bringing human rights crusader Hassan Omar to the Coast political scene and this again is working against Balala,” he says.

Mr Balala is often viewed as being too close to Muslim clerics and is known to be a buddy of officials of the Council of Imams and Preachers (CIPK).

Contacted, CIPK official Sheikh Mohamed Khalifa declined to comment on Mr Balala’s plans.

“As an imam I would rather speak about religious matters and not a politician’s plans. Balala should speak for himself,” Mr Khalifa says.

Even though we could not get Balala to comment on the concerns about his delay in naming a party, close associates say he has lined up a number of candidates to vie for various positions in Mombasa County.

The line-up includes Ibrahim Hamisi Babangida, who has announced plans to contest the Mombasa governor’s seat while nominated MP Sheikh Mohamed Dor has been eyeing the Mvita seat from the Balala camp.

Both Babangida and Sheikh Dor have been crisscrossing Mvita trying to woo voters in readiness for the next polls.

“I have decided to go for the position of Mombasa county governor,” Babangida confirmed to County Weekly.

At the height of his estrangement from Mr Odinga early last year, Mr Balala appeared to be teaming up with Eldoret North MP William Ruto.

He has often warned that his defection from Mr Odinga’s ODM would cost the PM dearly

“Watch my steps. I delivered many MPs to ODM in the last elections,” he once said, and insisted he would name his own political party.

Even though many say Mr Balala’s days could be numbered, he has proved to be a politician who has the cat’s proverbial nine lives and one who has often rubbed his political masters and mentors up the wrong way.

In 1998, Kanu kingpins at the Coast including Shariff Nassir and Mohamed Sajjad pushed for his nomination as a Mombasa councillor and later as the city mayor.

But after about a year in office, he differed with them and was dramatically forced out of the mayor’s parlour.

But when the Narc wave came in 2002, he earned a direct nomination and went on to trounce Nassir in Mvita, becoming a Cabinet minister and Mr Odinga’s Coast point man.

Between 2002 and 2007, many politicians plotted how to lock him out of Parliament.

He again got a direct nomination in 2007 and used the ODM wave to retain his parliamentary seat and Cabinet docket.

Lately, he has shown interest in the Mombasa County senate position but residents have yet to know his party even after the deadline for fresh registration of parties elapsed recently.

 


 

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