Raila confronts rising Azimio fights during weekend Coast tour

ODM Leader Raila Odinga in Bamba Kilifi County on February 19, 2022. [Standard]

ODM leader Raila Odinga has moved to quell simmering fights among Coast politicians allied to his Azimio la Umoja movement.

There have been tensions between local leaders eyeing various seats, with their supporters trading barbs as party primaries loom.

A last minute-meeting between rival factions in Azimio helped diffuse tensions that had threatened to cast a shadow over Raila's weekend tour of the Coast.

Yesterday, Kilifi and Mombasa leaders who have not seen eye to eye in the past weeks came together to market Raila as the "safe pair of hands" for the Coast residents.

On Friday, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho separately met Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir and politician Suleiman Shahbal, who agreed to de-escalate tension between their supporters. 

In his first rally in Kilifi yesterday since his return from a 10-day trip to Ethiopia, Dubai and India, Raila said he had a plan to exploit huge mineral deposits in the region and revive collapsed factories to create jobs and wealth.

"Other than establishing and empowering firms to do value addition for agricultural products at the Coast, I will also exploit the huge mineral deposits in the region to create wealth and jobs," said Raila.

He said his model of the social welfare protection fund will be similar to that of India, Brazil, US, Egypt, Namibia and European Union countries.

"Widows, single mothers and poor will benefit from the monthly stipend," he said, adding he knows corruption loophole to seal to get the funds to implement the programme.

Raila said Coast residents have for the last 15 years been his ardent supporters and implored them not to be swayed by people who have failed to fulfill promises they made in 2013 and 2017.

The ODM leader's four-day tour to popularize the Azimio la Umoja movement and consolidate his support base got off to a testy start in Mombasa and Kilifi counties. 

Yesterday Nassir, Shahbal, Joho and aspirants battling for the Kilifi governor seat accompanied Raila to his first rallies in Kilifi in a show of unity.

Joho said the Coast had for the last 15 years invested heavily in ODM and Raila and cannot, therefore, afford to abandon him when his win is clear.

"We have supported him (Raila) for so long. We cannot afford to abandon him when he is assured of a win in the August 9 election," said Joho in Bamba area, Kilifi.

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi said he had planned to accompany Raila as a host Governor but changed his mind following tension between Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) officials and ODM.

“I’ve already pronounced myself on who PAA will support for the president. Although we are yet to sign a cooperation agreement, I was keen to welcome Baba as the host governor,” he said.

Kingi said in a phone interview from Dubai yesterday that he avoided Raila’s rallies in Kilifi “because I do not want to see a clash between PAA and ODM supporters or officials.”

Yesterday Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire said PAA had tabled “unreasonable demands” including insisting that Kingi should street the rallies he “did not contribute to organise.”

“I talked to Kingi and other PAA officials about Baba's rallies in Kilifi. We invited them because they are partners but we also felt that they wanted to hijack the events,” he said.

On Friday Mwambire who is also the ODM Kilifi chairman, asked PAA official to keep off Raila's rallies saying it was an ODM affair.

During the rallies, aspirants for the Mombasa and Kilifi governor seats steered clear of local politics to drum up support for Raila's presidential bid.

"Ten years have lapsed since the last General Election. If we don’t come together and chose the right leader, we shall remain with our problems. Let us vote in someone who will listen to us. If we get Raila to State House, we will not need to knock the door, we will just get in,” said Shahbal.