Key political factors at play as Raila heads to Coast

The Coast region is widely regarded as Raila Odinga’s citadel, having overwhelmingly voted for the CORD leader during the 2013 General Election.

In the poll, 74.9 per cent (612,057) of voters in the Coast region voted for Raila Odinga while 19.3 per cent (158,083) voted for Uhuru Kenyatta with Musalia Mudavadi and Peter Kenneth garnering 10,564 and 7,820 votes respectively.

Jubilee has however made inroads in the region in the recent past, with President Uhuru Kenyatta holding an extended one–week stay at the coast in what was seen as a bid to hunt for votes.

Jubilee has also made relentless attempts to gain grounds in the region by hosting Coast leaders at State House in a bid to woo them to the government side.

CORD MPs Gideon Mungaro (Kilifi North), Masoud Mwahima (Likoni), Lunga Lunga’s Khatib Mwashetani and Kwale Women representative Zainab Chidzuga are some of the coast leaders who have pledged allegiance to Jubilee ahead of the 2017 elections.

Despite the defections, ODM was able to restate its authority in the region by winning the Malindi parliamentary seat which was left vacant following the appointment of Dan Kazungu (then of ODM) into government.

In the by-elections held in March this year, ODM’s William Baraka Mtengo floored Jubilee Philip Charo to emerge winner garnering 15,582 votes against Charo’s 9,243 votes.

During the visit, President Kenyatta met political leaders from the region, in addition to issuing 4,073 title deeds to residents of Lamu and 5,007 title deeds to squatters at Waitiki farm.

CORD however played down the significance of President Kenyatta’s visit, with Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo saying the move to issue title deeds was a PR gimmick that had no consequence to the region’s political inclination.

Raila Odinga’s four-day tour of Coast region is therefore seen as a timely event aimed at consolidating his support in the region which has seen some of its leaders defect from CORD to Jubilee in recent past.

The tour comes just a month after the ODM leader’s visit of Western region where he traversed the counties of Vihiga, Busia and Kakamega holding public rallies and meeting delegates in a bid to wade off growing insurgence from some of the regions legislators including Budalangi MP Ababu Namwamba and Mumias East MP Benjamin Washiali.

During the tour of Coast, some of the political issues that will come into play, and which Raila is expected to focus on, include electoral reforms which has led to the formation of a joint committee aimed to negotiating a way out in a bid to ensure free and fair elections.

The ODM leader is also expected to talk about Jubilee’s apparent flaws and failure in governance, his opposition to the merging of Jubilee Coalition affiliate parties and call for coast region to vote for him in the next elections – all issues that have stood out in his recent addresses.

@benjaminwafula