Speculation rises on who will succeed top Coast governors
With three governors in the Coast— Hassan Joho (Mombasa), Salim Mvurya (Kwale) and Amason Kingi (Kilifi)— winding up their second and final terms in office, the 2022 governors’ race in the region will be graced by fresh faces.
Many are following keening to see just who will immerse themselves in the race, and wade through the tumult political stage that has been set especially by Joho and Kingi.
As 2022 draws closer, focus is on who will succeed Joho, who seemingly enjoyed the glory of political limelight following his outspokenness and open criticism of the Jubilee government in his first term.
The icing on the cake in the Mombasa governor’s race in the past two elections has been the bruising political battle between Joho and his closest rival Suleiman Shahbal, with the latter distantly trailing the former in the results.
In the coming chapter, Mombasa voters could witness campaigns without Joho’s fiery outspokenness coupled by point blank and hard-hitting responses to opposing camps compared to Shahbal’s “gentleman and issue-based politics”.
Advise residents
Already, Joho has hinted at endorsing his successor “when the right time comes”. He holds that his political experience as Kisauni MP twice and as the county boss is enough to advise Mombasa residents on the right choice of leaders.
The controversial picking of Harub Khatri as Mombasa Speaker in the beginning of his last term was seen as an initial signal that he could be Joho’s favorite candidate to succeed him in 2022 given that the two are close allies.
Khatri’s sudden rise to fame appeared to muffle some of Joho’s closest allies including Likoni legislator Mishi Mboko and her Mvita counterpart Abdulswamad Sharrif, who are also viewed as likely successors.
However, with recent bad blood between the County Assembly and the Executive over impeachment of CECs, it is not clear whether Joho-Khatri relations are still intact.
Other legislators who are being fronted as potential Joho’s successors are Nyali MP Mohammed Ali alias Jicho Pevu and his Kisauni counterpart Ali Mbogo— who are the only two law makers from Mombasa that are not affiliated with Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
Ali and Mbogo have constantly been the loudest critics of Joho and their party affiliations appear to have given them the needed independence to choose who to work with in the game of politics.
The two have graced almost all of Deputy President William Ruto’s meetings in the region.
Comeback window
With Joho out of the way, perhaps Shahbal and former senator Hassan Omar, who finished second and third respectively in the 2017 election, could see this as a window for a comeback.
In a recent opinion article, Shahbal decried betrayal, saying despite struggling to sell Jubilee party in the region where they managed to get the President 100,000 votes slots in parastatal boards were hard to come by.
“After the 2017 elections, I struggled from office to office to try and get former Mombasa Jubilee chairman Matano Chengo appointed to any parastatal board, but in vain. Betrayal hung in the air like a cloud heavy with rain…” said Shahbal, who is also Gulf Group of Companies chair.
Declare interest
In the article, the politician-cum-businessman hinted that he could be “tired of being in Jubilee”.
The name of Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has also been fronted repeatedly in the list of potential successors although Balala himself has never openly declared interest in the Mombasa top seat.
In Kilifi, Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa appears to be a leading contender in the race to replace Kingi but she is expected to encounter a tough duel with her Kilifi North counterpart Owen Baya and Kilifi South’s Ken Chonga.
Baya and Chonga alongside Lands Chief Administrative Secretary Gideon Mung’aro have declared interest in the Kilifi governor’s seat.
In Kwale, Governor Salim Mvurya is openly campaigning for his deputy Fatma Achani, who he is grooming to be his successor.
