Raila backs Mvurya for re-election as Kwale governor

Cord leader Raila Odinga on Thursday backed Kwale County Governor Salim Mvurya for re-election in next year’s General Election, saying he had proven devolution could be made to work.

The opposition chief said he would work to unite leaders in the county and sought to assure them that Cord would hold free and fair nominations.

Speaking at Dr Babla Diani Secondary School in Kwale, Mr Odinga said personal differences among leaders would not break up ODM since “all those in the party are children of the same mother fighting for the same milk.”

He advised leaders who lose nominations to shun “political prostitution.”

“Jubilee are liars and they are the cause of the coastal land problems. They can’t be part of the solution. The solution is in the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission report, which the government has failed to implement,” he said.

Mr Mvurya, for his part, asked ODM leader Raila Odinga to intervene and resolve the party’s simmering troubles in the county.

“Internal wrangles can kill ODM. We must all unite and score in the same goal,” he said.

Mr Odinga also condemned extrajudicial killings, saying imams had told him that about 30 people had been killed in suspicious circumstances in Kwale in the previoust 10 years.

Msambweni MP Suleiman Dori, Kilifi County Woman Representative Aisha Jumwa and Mombasa Woman Representative Mishi Mboko said they would work together to ensure Mr Mvurya is re-elected.

Ms Mboko said the Coast was an ODM zone and praised Mr Mvurya for “his outstanding performance” as the county’s leader.

Mr Odinga’s arrival in Kwale has served to spotlight the differences among the county’s leaders, with factions fighting to control his itinerary.

TWO GROUPS

Trouble began on Wednesday evening, when Mr Odinga landed at the Diani Airstrip from Taita-Taveta to be received by two different groups of delegates, one aligned to the governor and the other associated with Matuga MP Hassan Mwanyoha and his Msambweni counterpart Suleiman Dori.

An official county vehicle sent to pick up Mr Odinga from the airport and take him to his hotel in Diani was blocked and another one from Mombasa County brought in.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and his Kilifi counterpart Amason Kingi have been keen to have Mr Mvurya expelled from the party.

On Thursday, confusion reigned in Mandingo Village in Diani where Mr Odinga was scheduled to open an ODM office in the morning. 

Two programmes had been prepared, one by Ward Representative Omar Boga, who is opposed to Mr Dori, and another by a team allied to the Msambweni MP.

Even though the MP invited Mr Odinga to address the gathering, Mr Boga’s supporters took over the proceedings, brandishing huge placards that read, “Dori must go” and accused the MP of undermining his colleagues, including the governor, and inviting people from Mombasa to take charge of Kwale.

Mr Joho has accused Mr Mvurya of failing to support then party candidate William Mtengo during the Malindi by-election in March and for allegedly failing to lead demonstrations against electoral commission bosses. 

But Mr Mvurya has maintained that he will only serve the interests of Kwale people to whom, he argues, he is answerable. 

“I don’t owe anybody anything except the people of Kwale, who elected me. I took an oath to serve them and I am concentrating on that mandate alone”, said Mr Mvurua in a recent interview after his county was voted the best in the country in spending.