The registration of two political parties from Coast, Pamoja Alliance and Kenya Democracy for Change which were handed provisional certificates in July, is cause of the bitter war between Raila Odinga and Kilifi governor Amason Kingi. Weekly Citizen also has information, Raila camp believes Mombasa governor Hassan Joho is secretly working with Kingi. Raila handlers has thus decided to sideline Joho in his 2022 presidential bid as the governor is seen more of a baggage than an asset. Joho has gone missing in Raila recent major events. Joho’s troubles with Raila have to do with his alleged link to criminal activities and not being in good books with Western capitals.
Raila is rebranding himself internationally and if Joho is close to him, it is bound to taint his image. Apart from being associated with drug trafficking, Joho family name features in tax evasion and various scandals. Further reports indicate, Joho has lost popularity on ground more-so after the Msambweni by-election defeat that saw anti-ODM forces link him to drugs that have ruined lives of youth in the entire coastal region. In the 2013 and 2017 general election, ODM scooped majority of the elective seats in Coast with Kilifi having all its elected leaders on the party ticket. But since the last election, Coast governors serving their second and final terms – Kingi, Joho and Kwale’s Salim Mvurya – have been seeking new alliances to be relevant in the post-Uhuru Kenyatta administration. For Kingi and Joho, formerly close allies of Raila, they even separately declared they would contest the presidency.
Joho even applied for the nomination as ODM presidential candidate before the party retreated by shelving the exercise. Joho had applied alongside Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya before it emerged that Raila had not sent his application for consideration. For now, controversial businessman Jimmy Wanjigi has also announced he will be seeking the Orange party ticket for presidency.The ODM election board is expected to announce fresh application for those seeking its ticket for the presidential race but all pointers are that Raila will easily secure the ticket. Raila moved to affirm his authority in the Orange party when he sacked Kingi as Kilifi ODM chairperson, citing disloyalty and replaced him with Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire. Raila opined that Kingi had betrayed him and the Orange party.
In the recent past, Kingi has been vocal in supporting the formation of a coalition by five Coastal-based parties. He is on record stating he will back the coalition named Coast Integrated Development Initiative instead of ODM, which he accuses of doing little in developing the region. But the governor is yet to garner followers to join the new coastal outfit. What forced Raila to sack Kingi was the realisation that the Governor’s allies were behind the registration of Pamoja Alliance, which they did on July 30 2021. While sacking the governor as the Kilifi party boss, Raila intimated he had nothing personal against him and welcomed him to leave ODM if he pleased. Kingi was replaced days after Kilifi ODM youth league chairman Samir Nyundo resigned from the Orange party citing lack of inclusivity.
Nyundo, a close ally of Kingi, is expected to join Pamoja Alliance which they intend to sell to the coastal communities as the best party to take care of the region’s interests. On August 9, Kingi irked Raila when he publicly declared plans were underway to create a national outlook party or rather a political formation that has its roots in the coastal region, arguing Raila had forgotten the region. There were reports those planning a local party were eyeing Shirikisho Party of Kenya, Kadu-Asili, Republican Congress Party of Kenya, Umoja Summit Party of Kenya and the Communist Party of Kenya, all which have roots in the region. For months, Kingi fought with Joho, the ODM deputy party leader, over political kingpin in the region.
At one time, Joho even skipped Raila’s tour of Kilifi county over Kingi’s presence. Joho is also said to be weighing options though he has not made up his mind on whether to leave ODM. But there are reports Raila is looking for new allies, having in mind that governors serving their final terms will not have much political clout next year. Amason Kingi has severed links with Raila amid accusations of betrayal by Coast colleagues, who dropped plans to form the regional political party ahead of the 2022 general election. Kingi’s rejection of Odinga’s plea to drop the Coast unity talks was the last straw, even as governors Joho and Granton Samboja (Taita Taveta) – earlier supporters of the regional party – quietly pulled out of the plans.
The idea of a regional party was adopted by the six governors from Coast during a meeting Samboja hosted on February 10. Sources say that shortly after the meeting, Raila met Samboja and Joho, convincing them to abandon the regional party plan. Kingi and Joho have not been together on any political engagement since the February meeting even as sources talk of blackmail and betrayal between the two camps. In Mombasa, Raila is said to prefer businessman Suleiman Shahbal, who defected from Jubilee, to lead his troops. Shahbal is being fronted by Raila brother Oburu Odinga. The two flew in the same chopper to Raila event in Murang’a.
But already he is in a dilemma since Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir, who had all along expected to have an easy nomination to contest for the top county seat on the Orange party’s ticket, is fighting back to get the Orange party ticket in the governor’s race. The Mvita MP is being backed by Odinga family led by daughter Rosemary. Nassir has been an ODM loyalist, while Shahbal defected to Jubilee when his attempt to unseat Joho on an ODM ticket flopped after he failed during the party primaries. Raila was forced to maintain the party will conduct competitive nominations to choose the party’s flag-bearer for the county’s top seat. A number of Joho’s 2017 campaign team members have also become involved in Shahbal’s campaign strategies.
Shahbal has maintained that he left ODM because he had no space since Joho was in the party’s inner circle. For Kingi, Raila is said to have let him go after learning the county boss popularity at the grassroots was waning. But while welcoming ODM’s decision to sack him, Kingi expressed gratitude to Raia “for giving him the opportunity to serve as the Kilifi county ODM chairman for the past nine years”. For now, the close relation that had seen Joho and Kingi pay a courtesy call on Mvurya in his office is over. They had met Mvurya days after President Uhuru first hosted the Kwale Governor and his Deputy Fatuma Achani as the head of state crafted his line-up to take on Deputy President William Ruto. After doing away with Kingi, Joho is said to be next on Raila chop board as the ODM leader continues to work on his 2022 political machine.
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