Mvurya shows his might as he retains governor's seat

Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya showed his political mettle when he retained his seat in Tuesday’s polls on a Jubilee Party ticket in an area touted as an opposition turf.

Provisional results from IEBC released on Wednesday showed Mr Mvurya leading the gubernatorial race with a huge margin.

Wiper gubernatorial candidate Chirau Ali Mwakwere, however, rejected the results, claiming there was rigging in favour of Mr Mvurya.

The early results showed Mr Mvurya leading with more than 74,000 votes against Mr Mwakwere’s 21,000.

Mr Mwakwere engaged IEBC officers led by the South Coast coordinator Amina Soud and sparked a standoff between security agents, his supporters and those of Mr Mvurya.

THREE HORSE RACE

Mr Mvurya, one of President Kenyatta’s  pointmen at the Coast defected  to Jubilee from ODM, whose ticket he used to win in 2013.

Before Tuesday’s elections, the Kwale gubernatorial race had turned into a three-horse race pitting Mr Mvurya, Mr Mwakwere and Dr Issa Kipera of ODM.

Independent candidate Sammy Ruwa on Wednesday congratulated Mr Mvurya for the win. Mr Gereza Dena also vied for the seat.

Mr Mvurya banked on what has been seen as a sterling performance especially in education, health and agriculture.

He also got a boost after  the government gave citizenship to the Makonde community

But the challenges still abound.

SQUATTERS

Kwale County faces a land ownership problem, with majority of the residents remaining squatters.

The county has high poverty levels, with more than 90 per cent of the population earning less than a dollar a day.

Food insecurity is rife, especially in the dry Kinango Constituency, where rains are low and unreliable.

Despite having huge deposits of valuable minerals such as titanium, niobium and others, the county has benefited little.

Poor infrastructure also remains a major challenge, with only one tarmac road that traverses Kwale from Likoni to Lunga Lunga.

INSECURITY

Insecurity in the county that for some time now has been regarded the home of the secessionist Mombasa Republican Council and Al-Shabaab returnees, remains a major obstacle affecting tourism which is Kwale’s economic backbone.

Pundits say Mr Mvurya is a beneficiary of sibling rivalry between ODM and Wiper in the Nasa coalition as the two parties failed to agree to field a joint gubernatorial candidate to give the incumbent governor a run for his money.

Nasa principals Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka efforts to have Mr Mwakwere or Dr Kipera drop out of race were futile.

Mr Mwakwere and Dr Kipera also shared the votes as they come from the same area, leaving Mr Mvurya to mobilise all his Duruma community behind him.

CHANGE

Mr Mwakwere and Dr Kipera have been riding on the message of change but saying little on how they will effect that change.

The county has a huge potential on commercial fishing but it remains largely untapped.

Kwale has a long seashore and neighbours Tanzania, which produces huge quantities of fish.

The county also faces acute water shortages despite the Mzima pipeline passing through it. Kinango sub-county is the hardest hit.

Livestock thrives in the Kinango sub-county but this resource has not been tapped to the benefit of the population.