Mombasa Governor Hassan Ali Joho should be CORD flag bearer

Pick Mombasa Governor Hassan Ali Joho as Cord presidential candidate The Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (Cord) should stop worrying over who should be the coalition’s flag bearer in the crucial 2017 general election and pick Mombasa Governor Hassan Ali Joho. Cord should not spend months and years dreaming about picking a presidential candidate and explore unlikely possible scenarios that could determine the 2016 election by picking unlikeliest candidates.

Picking the outspoken governor who is also ODMs deputy party leader would spare Cord the current headache of whom to choose between Raila Odinga, Kalonzo Musyoka and Moses Wetangula. The three political heavyweights should bite the bullet and appoint another young flag bearer who has the political acumen to defeat President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2017.

Handing the 39-year-old governor the ticket will be a wise move as his candidature will appeal to the youth, Muslims and majority of the voters who are tired of voting candidates from major rival ethnic groups. Joho who declared his interest as a presidential candidate in the race to state house in 2022 should be considered for the post in the forthcoming polls to offer a breath of fresh air to a presidential election that is otherwise consumed by divisive partisan rhetoric. The youthful and assertive Mombasa governor can make a good and transformative president if elected and have the energy and the will to transform the country into a middle income economy as envisioned in the Vision 2030.

Joho who is a fierce critic of the jubilee administration has served as the MP for Kisauni before being elected governor in 2013 general election and has delivered most of his election pledges. He was also an assistant minister for Transport by former president Mwai Kibaki during the grand coalition government and has come of age politically and could bring a proven leadership to state house. He is the boss of one of the most important cosmopolitan counties in the country who found the guts to rally residents against the bullying tactics of jubilee diehards and the president in public. The no-nonsense governor is politically battle hardened whose rise to the helm of coastal politics cannot be ignored.