CORD leader Raila Odinga holds meeting with Governor Joho

CORD leader Raila Odinga has held a closed door meeting with Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho at Capitol Hill Square Office in Nairobi.

According to a communication from Raila Odinga’s spokesman Dennis Onyango, the meeting was aimed at providing an insight into the Malindi by-election which was held while the CORD leader was away in Israel.

During the Monday meeting, Joho briefed Odinga on the Malindi by-election and his apparent fallout with other leaders from the Coast and the Jubilee government.

The ODM leader thanked the people of Malindi for voting for ODM candidate Willy Mtengo and ensuring the party retained the Malindi parliamentary seat.

Mtengo won the March 7 by-election garnering 15,582 votes beating Jubilee’s Philip Charo who got 9,243 votes.

The meeting also touched on the ongoing government-Joho strife with Raila assuring the Mombasa governor of his personal support against alleged intimidation by the National Government.

Odinga encouraged the governor to remain firm in his beliefs and commitment to the party and fight for what is right for his people.

Joho’s visit to Nairobi is a clear override of reports that he was out of the country in a bid to escape arrest for defying an order to surrender his firearm.

Coast Regional Police Commander Francis Wanjohi had on Sunday warned Governor Joho of probable arrest may he fail to return his firearms as directed by the Chief Licensing Officer Samuel Kimaru last week.

While ODM has criticised the move, terming it as a diversion from cases of corruption bedevelling the country, Elgeyo Marakwet Senator Kipchumba Murkomen has said that as an elected leader, Joho faced no significant threats that warranted him to carry guns and walk around with bodyguards.

The deadline given for Joho to surrender his firearm expired Sunday night and it now remains to be seen what the government’s next course of action will be.

@benjaminwafula