Aspirants from across the political divide have launched early discreet campaigns to succeed outgoing Mombasa governor Hassan Joho come 2022 general elections.
Joho who is on his second and final term of office has since embarked on reconciliation and peacemaking efforts with his former political rivals with an eye on a national seat in post Uhuru Kenyatta succession contest.
Balala
The flamboyant governor has since reconciled with his former Jubilee party opponent Suleiman Shahbal, Tourism cabinet secretary Najib Balala and Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo of Wiper party. The trio have separately embraced Joho with the hope that when the time comes, he will not campaign against them even if he fails to anoint them his successor.
This, they believe, will enable them win over some of the governor’s supporters in the port city. In return, Joho wants the three leaders to back his bid for the presidency or any other national seat that the BBI arrangement will bring forth. It is however, tricky for Joho in as far as balancing personal and political interests are concerned.
The governor’s own camp is of the view that he should groom an insider to inherit his seat so as to protect their business interests after his exit. They do not envisage a situation where someone like Shahbal, Balala or Mbogo could be imposed on them as the preferred candidate.
At the same time, three Mombasa MPs who are close associates of the governor have expressed interest to take over from him. They include Omar Mwinyi (Changamwe), Mishi Mboko (Likoni) and Abdulswamad Nassir (Mvita).
Mbogo
The trio would not make serious impact if they were to rebel and run on their own outside the governor’s cover.
The fear among the three legislator’s camps is that the governor and his kitchen cabinet seem to be leaning towards county assembly speaker Ibrahim Khatri. The speaker has reportedly made serious inroads in all the six constituencies in the county using his MCAs. Among other things, he has sponsored a series of soccer tournaments to popularise himself among the youth at the grassroots.
Former Mombasa senator Hassan Omar and former Nyali MP Hezron Awiti who contested for governor in the last general elections are also plotting a political comeback.
The duo however, have deserted the electorate for long and it will be an uphill task to re-engineer themselves and capture the attention of their former supporters, some of whom have already given up on them.
An initiative by Mijikenda elites to craft a unity deal among community members and back one of their own for Mombasa governor seat seems to have run out of steam.
The proponents of the scheme have failed to secure funding as most of those approached do not see value for money in the political investment. There has been an outcry that in-spite of the Mijikenda being majority voters, they were always being offered number two slots by their minority Swahili/Arab candidates.
Mwinyi
The Kamba community who are the second largest vote bloc in Mombasa county are also attempting to lay claim on the senatorship seat in a fronted power sharing arrangement ahead of 2022 general elections.
However, the community is usually disunited during elections, something that has denied them leadership positions in the county.
In Changamwe constituency for instance, the current MP Mwinyi from the Swahili has conquered Kambas twice in spite of their numerical strength.
One Kyalo, a former county executive for sports is being groomed by a section of the community to take on Mwinyi in 2022. The names of Junior Wambua and one Camp David are also being mentioned.
A purported unity forum for Kwale and Mombasa, Kambas have since failed to win trust of the community members with many dismissing it as a partisan entity meant to front personal political interests of an individual eyeing the Changamwe parliamentary seat.
