Aisha Jumwa loses Kilifi governorship race to Gideon Mung'aro

Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa speaking at a past rally. [Maureen Ongala, Standard]

Former Devolution Chief Administrative Secretary (CAS) Gideon Mung'aro has been elected as the second governor of Kilifi County.

Mung'aro, who vied on ODM ticket, beat UDA's Aisha Jumwa to the seat. Jumwa is the outgoing Malindi Member of Parliament.

Mung'aro got 143,773 votes against Jumwa's 65,893 votes.

Other candidates, who scored lowly in the race, are George Kithi of Pamoja African Alliance (PAA), David Noti of Umoja Summit Party, Alponce Dzombo of Safina Party, Michael Jefwa of Ford-Kenya and Franco Esposito, who ran as an independent candidate.

Mung'aro had earlier protested, saying he won't accept the election outcome because ballot boxes had been taken to the Kilifi North tallying centre without seals. The matter was later resolved amicably.

Kilifi Governor-elect Gideon Mung'aro together with his deputy governor-elect Flora Chibule after receiving their certificate from IEBC officials at Pwani University County tallying centre.

Gideon Mung'aro's running mate is Flora Mbetsa, a teacher with 15 years of experience.

The governor-elect said Mbetsa will serve as the County Executive Committee Member for Education.

Mung'aro was elected to the National Assembly in 2013 on an ODM ticket, representing Kilifi North Constituency.

In 2017, he decamped to the Jubilee Party, where he sought to unseat the incumbent governor Amason Kingi.

After losing to Kingi in the elections, he was appointed CAS in the Ministry of Lands before being transferred to the Devolution docket in 2021, where he served until February 2022 to run for Kilifi governorship.

During the campaigns, Mung'aro pledged to fight graft in the county and streamline service provision.