Mwakwere vs Mvurya fight shapes up in Msambweni by-election – Weekly Citizen

The governor of Kwale Salim Mvurya and former cabinet minister Chirau Mwakwere are rehearsing for another vicious political fight in the impending Msambweni constituency by-election. The two regional political heavyweights faced off each other in the last general elections for the governor’s seat. And even though Mvurya was declared winner, Mwakwere supporters have to date never been convinced that their man lost the election fairly. A replay of their political fights is expected to be witnessed in the Msambweni by-election through their respective candidates. Mvurya is fronting Bakari Sebe, his CeC for finance while Mwakwere has businessman Shee Abdulrahaman on a Wiper party ticket.

Salim Mvurya

The ongoing Jubilee wrangles have thrown Mvurya camp off balance and into confusion. The fear is that Sebe may not be cleared to run on a Jubilee party ticket given that the governor is affiliated to DP William Ruto’s Tangatanga wing in the politically torn apart ruling party. There are unconfirmed reports that in order to deal a blow to Mvurya-Ruto campaign in Msambweni, Raphael Tuju, the SG will announce that Jubilee is in solidarity with ODM in recapturing the seat since it belonged to the latter. The seat fell vacant following the demise of former area MP Suleiman Dori of ODM. The by-election was slated for June 26 2020, but IEBC pushed it forward until the coronavirus curve is flattened.

Chirau Ali Mwakwere

Mwakwere who is eyeing the Kwale governor seat in 2022 plans to use the Msambweni byelection campaigns as a warm-up exercise while Mvurya intends to use it as a springboard to further his deputy Fatuma Achani’s chances to inherit him in 2022. Msambweni constituency was among Mwakwere’s 2017 strongholds when he ran for governor and as such, the Mvurya camp is not taking any chances. It is claimed the exMatuga MP employed hundreds of youth from Msambweni at the port of Mombasa when he served as Transport minister in the Kibaki administration.

The late Suleiman Dori

“Zipapa Zipapa only needs to activate his 2017 governor campaign teams in Msambweni constituency and give his opponents a run for their money,” one of his supporters in Msambweni stated. Sebe’s campaign meetings have since shifted to Kwale county governor’s satellite offices at Mvindeni, Kinondo ward adjacent to Kenya Red Cross offices to counter Mwakwere’s growing influence. Msambweni constituency has a total of 68,522 voters spread across four wards namely; Ukunda 21,500 votes, Ramisi 18,569 votes, Gombatto 17,538 and Kinondo 11,014 votes