Inside Ruto's, opposition scramble for share of Raila's Coast base

Wiper leader Kalonzo Musyoka and former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Aisha Jumwa at her Kakuyuni residence in Kilifi County. 

For a long time now, the Coastal region had been described as the political bedroom of the late Raila Odinga.

In successive electoral cycles since 2007, the former premier has been getting the largest share of votes in the region while the Orange Democratic Movement has boasted of a huge number of elected representatives from the region.

With his demise, the struggle is on for both the opposition and the Government to try and fill the vacuum left.

After former Public Service Cabinet Secretary Aisha Jumwa’s exit from the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on July 30, she has been receiving a number of delegations at her Kakuyuni home in Kilifi including from Linda Mwananchi.

Wiper Patriotic Front party leader Kalonzo Musyoka landed her as his newest signing on Friday.

Aisha confirmed she will be contesting for the Kilifi Gubernatorial seat on a Wiper ticket adding that she was poised to be the Wiper Deputy party leader.

Additionally, for Wiper, on 7th August, Kalonzo made changes to the party's leadership that included the appointment of Nyali MP Mohamed Ali as Deputy party leader.

On Tuesday, former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua met a delegation of Wiper Patriotic Front leaders, where he confirmed the opposition's plans to win a majority of Coastal seats.

"Mombasa Governor we are getting; the numbers are good. Even Kilifi we will bag it. Taita Taveta we must arrange to take it. The chair of the Council of Governors will be from the opposition family." he said, adding that they will get the best formula to avoid contesting within the opposition where zoning can be done. Ali and Jumwa were among the biggest grassroot mobilizers of the President in 2022.

While the opposition has been making inroads, President Ruto's allies have not been sleeping either.

Tours by senior leaders from the region have intensified in the recent past. Mining Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho, Sports CS Salim Mvurya and Senate Speaker Amason Kingi have been leading the charge.

Within a month, Joho alongside his counterparts, have traversed all the six counties; Mombasa and Kwale on August 15, Taita Taveta on August 13 and Kilifi on August 3, Lamu on July 25, and Tana River on July 19.

He has been flanked by his legislators and Principal Secretaries from the Coast. The tours by the senior leaders notably increased after President Ruto's five-day tour of the region in May.

During an engagement with residents of Kilifi South on August 3, Joho said that they had visited 25 of the 26 counties in the region.

Apart from the tours, a massive voter registration drive has been launched by the Government in the entire region.

According to data from the IEBC, the six coastal counties had a total of 1,963,144 registered voters and now the plan is to ensure they raise their numbers up to four million registered voters. Kingi said in the Kilifi engagement that they had spoken with the relevant administration to reduce the backlog of unpicked identity cards by taking them to the people.

For those who have attained 18 years and have not registered for IDs, Kingi said the registration machines will be brought closer to the people. According to them, the mobilization will boost their numbers and even enable them to stake a claim for the running mate position.

Their efforts however suffered a setback last week after Lamu Woman Representative Muthoni Marubu publicly quit her association with the UDA party citing mistreatment from Lamu Governor Issa Timamy. Kingi said in April that his party Pamoja African Alliance PAA was not going to field candidates standing down for UDA.

In 2022, President William Ruto got a total of 311,328 votes against Raila's 587,334 votes from the 6 coastal counties.

In terms of Governors, UDA has only one; Fatuma Achani (Kwale) while ODM has three; Abdulswamad Sharifff Nassir (Mombasa), Gideon Mung'aro (Kilifi) and Dhadho Godhana (Tana River).

Lamu's Issa Timamy was elected on Mudavadi's ANC while Taita Taveta's Andrew Mwadime was elected on an Independent ticket. In terms of senators, ODM has 4 while UDA one and Jubilee one.

Simmering tensions among Broad based Government leaders from the coast had been witnessed earlier this year after ODM leaders demanded for zoning at the Coast while UDA leaders led by UDA Secretary General Hassan Omar, vowed to field candidates in all positions. The tensions seem to have cooled down for now.