JUBILEE UNDER PRESSURE TO SECURE POLITICAL LIVES OF THE MUNG’ARO GROUP

MOVE TO JOIN JUBILEE PRESSURES GOVT TO DELIVER IN ORDER TO SECURE POLITICAL LIVES OF THE MUNG’ARO GROUP.

Mung'aro with Deputy President William Ruto.
Source: www.nation.coke

Two major political happenings took place in Coast within the last one week. One, the media reported that six MPs from Kwale and Kilifi Counties had expressed their desire to work with the Jubilee Government and if need be decamp to the party so that they can be “part and parcel” of Government.

 Two, efforts by Likoni MP Masudi Mwalimu Mwahima to have residents allocated the Waitiki land bore fruits when it was reported that finally they would formally possess the land because they were to be issued with title deeds.

The two happenings though political can be seen and interpreted differently. In the first happening, the six Mps Gunga Mwinga (Kaloleni, Kadu Asili), Peter Shehe (Ganze Federal Party (CORD), Harrsion Kombe (Magarini, Jubilee ), William Kamoti (Rabai ODM), Mustaffa Iddi (Kilifi South ODM), and Khatib Mwashetani (Lunga Lunga ODM) who are mainly members of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement seem to be saying that they have had enough of the party.

The Mps were reported as saying that they were tired of being in the opposition and therefore ready to form their own party so that they can negotiate as partners with Jubilee Party.

It would be important to note that the MPs were led by Mr. Gideon Mung’aro the MP for Kilifi North and a renegade opposition MP who decided ages ago that he was done with the ODM. Political watchers in the coast observe that the act by Mung’aro to “ditch” ODM turned him into a blue-eyed dependable point man for Jubilee. He is being consulted by the Jubilee Alliance on virtually all matters political, the latest of his input being the appointment of Malindi MP Dan Kazungu as Cabinet Secretary for Mining.

The action of the seven no doubt ruffles feathers in the opposition camp. Is it an indication of the waning popularity of the ODM and Cord in general? Does it mean that the Mijikenda have now come of age and are ready to do something drastic without having to wait for Mombasa to decide for them?

One of the headaches for Mung’aro and his team as they pursue their new venture is that they will have to contend with opposition politics in which land ownership, poverty and massive unemployment among the Mijikenda are trump cards. These issues have had an appeal for the majority of the Coast voters and without demonstrating how they have helped resolve them, or are working to solve them, they might find that their efforts to join Jubilee might be used against them by the same opposition in which they were members. For that reason, the Jubilee Alliance will be under pressure to deliver to Coast residents and especially the Mijikenda if they have to secure the political lives of the Mung’aro group.

Likoni MP Mwalimu Mwahima at the gate of State House Mombasa
Source: www.the-star.co.ke

Talking of delivery, it does not matter which political party one is in as long as they are aware what they want and can always lobby Government to deliver its promises to the people.

This brings me to the second issue of Mr. Masudi Mwalimu Mwahima who relentlessly lobbied for squatters in Waitiki land to be allocated the land. Like him or hate him, the MP knows what is best for his people. He also serves a good lesson on what leaders should do to ensure that they fulfil their promises. Mwahima did not just sit on his laurels and claim to be an opposition MP and therefore was not willing to work with the Government because he was waiting for his party to come into power. I am certain that if elections were to be held today and Mr. Mwahima vied, he would definitely be among the few MPs who would be re-elected because he has demonstrated that if one has the will to pursue a just cause, they can always win for the benefit of the people.

The only sad rider to the whole issue was that the opposition’s social media battalion claimed that he had been bought and circulated on the internet a picture of him clutching a brown envelope outside the gates of state house Mombasa.

Although no proof was provided, there is no justifiable reason why Mr. Mwahima as any other leader cannot go to State House and pursue the interests of his constituents. Those accusing him of being bought were merely clutching at straws having found out that one of their campaign issues had suffered a beating.  

Ends………….