Ruto and Raila to campaign for candidates in Malindi by-election

Malindi By-Election ODM Aspirant William Baraka Mtengo (right) in consultation with Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and Klifi Governor Amason Kingi during an ODM Rally at Kisumu Ndogo in Kilifi County on Sunday. Photo/Kelvin Karani

MALINDI: Jubilee and CORD political heavyweights have descended on Malindi constituency in search of votes.

The contest is expected to get hotter as Deputy President William Ruto lands in Malindi today to campaign for Jubilee candidate Philip Charo while CORD leader Raila Odinga is scheduled to campaign for Willy Mtengo in the course of the week.

Mr Charo yesterday attended several church services accompanied by Nairobi Senator Gideon Mbuvi Sonko.

Last evening, National Assembly Majority Leader Aden Duale and several State House officials were expected in Malindi to prepare for Ruto’s visit.

Mombasa businessman and TNA co-ordinator Suleiman Shahbal told journalists “we are expecting Jubilee leaders to join us any time”.

CORD’s Mombasa Governor Hassan Ali Joho and his Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi were joined by Budalang’i MP Ababu Namwamba and several ODM leaders who asked residents of Malindi to reject the Jubilee candidate to protest what they described as poor policies.

They asked voters to choose Mtengo to “teach Jubilee a lesson” and reject the ruling coalition’s attempt to expand its reach in Coast.

Raila spoke to the gathering on a phone amplified on the microphone, urging voters to choose Mtengo and “reject Jubilee”.

“We want to send a strong message to Jubilee,” said Mombasa County MP Mishi Mboko who claimed that voting for Charo would amount to “rewarding Jubilee”, which she claimed has impoverished Coastal people.

Joho launched a scathing attack on the Government, accusing the administration of doing little to improve the lives of Kenyans.

“I am warning Uhuru Kenyatta that he will be in the opposition next year because we shall defeat him,” Joho declared.

Kingi described Jubilee as “an enemy of the people of Malindi and must be defeated” and alleged that local residents are unable to see what “the government of Mr Uhuru Kenyatta has done for the people of this region.”

Namwamba claimed that Jubilee leaders “are desperate to gain a foothold in Coast because the ruling coalition is losing its hold in other parts of Kenya, including Rift Valley”.

He also claimed that Meru County was “also slipping away from Jubilee and is trying to find new friends including Western region where they have not faired better either.”

The ODM Secretary General claimed that Jubilee was trying to weaken the Opposition by poaching its members in Coast and Rift Valley but predicted “they will lose in Malindi the way they lost in Kajiado Central because every time they raid our camp, we have a better replacement”.

Namwamba also accused Jubilee of rolling back democracy and allowing insecurity and poverty to rise.

He said nominated MCAs and MPs from ODM who support Jubilee would be de-whipped and new ones named to replace them.

Kisauni MP Rashid Bedzimba urged residents of Kisumu Ndogo where CORD leaders addressed a rally that “the same clique ruling Kenya today has ruled Kenya since independence and is responsible for poverty and landlessness in Coast”.