ODM governors from the coast skipped Raila Odinga’s tour of the region to porpularise his 2022 presidential ambition.
During his second day of the coastal tour on Monday, November 15, ODM Governors from the coast including Hassan Joho(Mombasa) Amason Kingi(Kilifi), Salim Mvurya(Kwale) and Fahim Twaha(Lamu) were nowhere to be seen.
Raila Odinga skipped one function in Kilifi County where he was expected to openODM party offices due to unspecified reasons.
In Kilifi County, ODM has lost its popularity to the Pamoja Africa Alliance that is led by governor Amason Kingi, who was kicked out of ODM party leadership a few months ago.
With all ODM governors keeping off the rallies, Odinga was hosted by ODM Chairman Teddy Mwambire who replaced Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi.
Apart from Kilifi Senator Stewart Madzayo and gubernatorial aspirant Gideon Mung’aro, all the other leaders that accompanied Raila Odinga in his coastal tour were from non-coastal counties.
In his tour of the region, Raila Odinga welcomed the aspirants who want to contest for leadership positions under the ODM ticket assuring them of fair nominations.
“The nomination is not an election, but it will help the party t represent us in the General Election,” Odinga said.
There have been calls by Coastal governors to have their own party and ditch ODM.
The calls were led by Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi and Mombasa’s Hassan Joho, but the latter dropped out of the fight after holding talks with Raila Odinga.
Joho, who had announced his presidential bid also dropped out of this race in favour of Raila Odinga’s presidency.
This is after he was promised a position in Raila Odinga’s 2022 government.
“I’m ready to shelve my presidential ambition. I do not fear doing that. I strongly believe that our only path, as Coastal people, to State House is through Raila Odinga,” Ali Hassan Joho announced.
