Timamy to defend seat on Jubilee ticket as opponents arise

Lamu Governor Issa Timamy’s decision to defend his seat on a Jubilee ticket may give the ruling coalition a head start in the race for the county’s top seat.

Mr Timamy will have to face off with another Jubilee heavyweight in the region, former Lamu West MP Fahim Twaha.

The other potential candidates, former KenGen Manager Swaleh Imu and former Lamu County Council Chairman Abdalla Fadhil, have not named their parties.

Apart from Mr Twaha, who narrowly lost to Mr Timamy in the 2013 elections, the other two contestants are newcomers with substantial support within the islands that can be a “headache” for the governor.

Mr Timamy says he saw no reason to remain outside the Jubilee Party yet the county has been receiving goodies from the Uhuru Kenyatta administration.

"We have already shared in the national cake since Jubilee, under President Kenyatta, came to power," the governor said during the launch of the Lamu Jubilee Women and Youth for Uhuruto lobby group on Friday.

"The government has already given us Sh200 million to upgrade our hospitals and work is already ongoing," the governor said during the function held at Mwana Arafa Hotel on Lamu Island.

He also cited a Sh10.4 billion tender for the tarmacking of more than 135 kilometre Lamu-Garsen road whose work is expected to begin in a week as part of the goodwill the Jubilee government has extended to the region.

“We are ready to join Jubilee and I am absolutely sure Lamu will no longer be marginalised as has been the case for the past 50 years,” he said Mr Timamy, adding that residents were more concerned with quality leadership than political parties.

Mr Timamy’s decision will solidify his position as he is likely to retain the significant support of upcountry people who are mainly sympathetic to Jubilee.

It may also help to bring some harmony among communities whose relations were strained by the terror attacks in Mpeketoni, which led to his arrest and prosecution.

Former Lamu County Council chairman Hassan Albeity and the former Chief Kadhi Sheikh Ali think Mr Timamy is targeting the vote-rich Lamu West, where the settler communities, with roots in central Kenya, have the numbers.

“Within Lamu politics you are either in Jubilee or try your luck with Kalonzo Musyoka’s wing of the political divide because of a considerable number of Kamba votes in the county,” Sheikh Ali told the Saturday Nation in a telephone interview.

TOUGH SELL

Secondly, Sheikh Ali points out that “business of politics” will favour individuals with financial power to buy themselves the gubernatorial position because a big chunk of Lamu people live in abject poverty.

He explains that leadership in the country has become a business enterprise where the ‘wrong’ people are elected to prime positions for personal rather than societal gains.

“What Governor Timamy has done is impeccable, but does it resonate with everybody? That is the question to ask and the answer is next year’s elections,” he adds.

Lamu West MP Julius Ndegwa accuses the governor of failure to unite the people and using divide-and-rule tactics he has employed since assuming office in 2013.

“Right now we see one another as Kikuyu, Bajuni, Kamba, Boni and Giriama instead of Kenyans living in the county,” he claims, criticising Mr Timamy’s tactic of meeting people based on their ethnicity.

Based on the governor’s development tract record, Mr Ndegwa believes he has a slim chance of retaining his seat. He says the health sector in Lamu West is in a deplorable state.

“There comes a time people must make hard decisions for the sake of prosperity and development, and that time has come for the Lamu people to make. So people should elect a leader that would unite them and spar development beyond ethnic scope,” he says.

Mr Timamy says he is confident about his re-election chances because of what he has done as the governor.

He says he has made major strides in improving the health facilities and reducing the high number of maternal deaths.

“These were caused by ignorance among expectant mothers who preferred home deliveries. As we speak, maternal deaths have greatly reduced since the number of women seeking hospital deliveries has increased by more than 80 per cent,” he says.

Major sections of the island’s streets have been paved and Lamu Old Town, Mpeketoni and Kizingitini streets installed with modern lighting systems.

TOURISM STATE
But his administration is facing two pertinent issues affecting the Lamu Port Southern Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) project and the Sh200 billion coal mining venture that have been a source of confrontation with the national government.

Critics believe the governor’s opponents might try to depict him as a leader lacking understanding of what the two projects could do for the people and the economy of the county if properly implemented.

“Tourism, which is the backbone of the county’s economy, is currently in a bad state because of travel advisories from the West. So the governor has no option but to embrace other forms of the economy to turn around its fortunes,” his critics advise.

Mr Fadhil, a former KPA director, has not said which party he will contest on.

“I am currently shopping for a political party that will help me pursue my gubernatorial agenda next year. My people have urged me to vie for the seat and I am ready,” Mr Fadhil says.

Since assuming office, Mr Timamy has had tussles with the 10 elected MCAs, MPs Shariff Athman and Ndegwa, Senator Abu Chiaba and Woman Representative Shakila Abdallah over county matters.

But Mr Timamy downplays this insisting that his administration is all-inclusive and that he has always tried to ensure all leaders in the county, both elected and nominated, play an integral part in its management.