Mungatana picks running mate for Tana River governor race

Tana River governorship aspirant Danson Mungatana speaking at a past function in Hola Town. He has picked Mr Hassan Bare Kuno as his running mate in the August 8 elections. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Mr Mungatana unveiled his running mate Tuesday night in Hola Town in a function attended by a handful of supporters.
  • He had earlier told journalists that he would do so at a colourful public rally.

Tana River governorship aspirant Danson Mungatana has picked Mr Hassan Bare Kuno as his running mate.

The former Garsen MP is vying on a Kenya Patriots Party (KPP) ticket.

Mr Bare had earlier resigned from the county government to contest for the Garsen parliamentary seat.

Mr Mungatana unveiled his running mate Tuesday night in Hola Town in a function attended by a handful of supporters.

He had earlier told journalists that he would do so at a colourful public rally.

It was also not clear why the former Garsen MP dropped Mr Dugale Khalif who was his running mate in the March 4, 2013 elections, in favour of Mr Bare.

In his address, Mr Mungatana pledged that if elected governor his government will be all-inclusive and will properly account for the county’s financial resources so as to benefit all residents.

BOOST ECONOMY

“We will put the resources into livestock keeping, fisheries, and agriculture as well as small and medium enterprises to boost the economy of our people and improve their living standards,” he added.

Mr Mungatana, who is under investigation by the Ethnic and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) over the Sh51 million Kilifi County theft scandal, criticised Governor Hussein Dado for allegedly “running an incompetent and corrupt government”.

“We are going to come up with a formidable line-up that will unseat (Mr) Dado because he has completely mismanaged county’s resources,” said Mr Mungatana.

BEAT DADO

He expressed his confident of beating Mr Dado and other candidates including Dhadho Godhana (ODM), Wiper’s Dr Nuh Abdi Nassir, Mr Jillo Algi of Development and Reforms (PDR) and Anania Karhayu Deye (Kadu Asili) in the August 8 elections.

However, Mr Mungatana is expected to face off with Mr Godhana in the battle for their Pokomo community votes after they disagreed on who between them should be the community’s sole candidate to faceoff with Mr Dado who is from the Orma community.

The two disagreed and two groups of the Pokomo Council of Elders (Gasa) separately endorsed them for the big seat.

Mr Dado is also facing stiff competition from Mr Jillo who resigned in 2015 as the county Finance and Planning executive member before declaring interest in the seat despite pressure from Orma Council of Elders for him to shelve his ambition.

Dr Nuh, who is currently the Tana River County Assembly Speaker, is the only candidate from the Wardei community and is hoping to sneak into victory should the Pokomo and Orma votes be split between their two candidates.