Jumwa holds secret talks with Ruto after poll loss – Weekly Citizen

Embattled Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa last week led a delegation from Kilifi county to William Ruto’s Karen office for secret talks in which her recent tribulations including her arrest and perceived dwindling political fortunes of the DP in Coast politics featured prominently.
Sources said over 30 people mostly aspirants from seven constituencies in Kilifi county attended the meeting on Monday morning last week. Apart from Jumwa, other MPs present were Kaloleni’s Paul Katana and nominated senator Christine Zawadi.
Others in the delegation included former MPs Mustafa Idd, Kilifi South, Lucas Maitha, Malindi and Harrison Kombe from Magarini.

MP Aisha Jumwa in court

Losers in the last general elections in the team included Kenga Mpe (Rabai), Mwalimu Menza (Magarini), Eliud Kalama (Kilifi North), Edward Kingi aka Lebanon (Ganze) and Ken Nyale who contested for Kilifi senator and lost to Stewart Madzayo. Amina Mnyanzi who contested for women rep on Jubilee ticket and lost to Gertrude Mbeyu of ODM was also present.
Nyonga wa Makemba, formerly a personal assistant to the late Coast political kingpin Karisa Maitha was also part of the delegation that held a three- hour meeting with Ruto to chart the way forward in view of recent developments including loss of Ganda ward seat to an ODM candidate.
It was not immediately clear if Nyonga who hails from Rabai constituency is eyeing any elective post in 2022 general elections. He is a renown political strategist who was behind the late Maitha’s successful political campaigns in Kisauni constituency and Coast as whole.
In the recent past, Nyonga has been vocal in support of the DP and has played a key role in mobilising masses to attend the hustler’s meetings in Kilifi.
During the Karen meeting, the Lands chief administrative secretary Gedion Mung’aro came under scathing attack from the DP who claimed he had been “confused by mtu wa kitendawili to abandon me, yet I was behind his appointment when president Uhuru had overlooked him”.
Mung’aro was the Jubilee governor candidate in Kilifi county in the last general elections and also the face of the party campaigns in the region. However, he is pro-handshake and has dedicated more of his time in attending to land matters across the country and is hardly seen politicking.
When Ruto visited Malindi in September, Mung’aro was conspicuously missing and the DP lamented loudly especially after he arrived at the Malindi airport and did not find anyone waiting for him unlike in the past when the place would be crawling with politicians scrambling for his attention.
Divisions are also said to have arisen in the Karen meeting when Kombe openly disagreed with the DP when he praised Jumwa, saying she was equivalent to ‘10 men put together’ and that the Kilifi governor seat would be hers for the taking.
Kombe told the DP to do another analysis on Jumwa especially after the recent chaos in which a man was killed during the Ganda ward seat by-election. The former Magarini MP implied Jumwa’s popularity may have seriously been eroded after the incident.
The DP reportedly downplayed the incident and the arrest of Jumwa indicating that those are small things that will be trashed away in due time. He asked former area MP Maitha to organise groups to ‘cleanse’ and clear the Malindi MP of any political damage. Maitha was noncommittal on the issue.
At the same time, Ken Nyale reportedly declined a directive from the DP to leave the Kilifi South seat to former area MP Mustafa, currently the chairman of Coast Water. Nyale said he had already gone far in marketing himself among voters and it is not possible for him to pull out. The area MP is Ken Chonga, a Governor Hassan Joho ally.
Jumwa had wanted Mustafa to be her running mate in the Kilifi governor contest to attract both the Swahili and Muslim votes. But Mustafa is said to have developed cold feet after consultations and realising that the Malindi MP although confident and boisterous, matters on the ground are totally different.
Jumwa is also fighting women rep Mbeyu and wants her replaced by Senator Zawadi. In Malindi constituency, she wants to be succeeded by Amina, who lost the women rep seat to Mbeyu. Amina is a director at Coast Water courtesy of Ruto.
In Ganze, Jumwa is grooming Kilifi county roads chief officer Ken Kazungu to defeat Teddy Mwambire, who is pro-Joho. It is claimed she wants Kingi aka Lebanon, a director at Industrial Development Bank to give way for Kazungu.
Kazungu has been instrumental in giving county infrastructure tenders to Jumwa fronted companies and as such she has vowed to ensure he becomes Ganze MP in 2022 general elections.
But even as Jumwa schemes for governorship, last week all the MCAs from her Malindi constituency announced that they are embarking on a signature collection exercise for her recall from parliament over her violation of the political parties Act.
MCAs Kadenge Mwathethe, Shela, Reuben Katana, Ganda, Nixon Mramba, Kakuyuni, Chiriba Bonyeza, Jilore and Dadu Kadenge of Malindi Town said ODM is aggrieved by the MP’s behaviour and must be ready to seek for fresh mandate.
The first attempt to kick out Jumwa from ODM failed after a tribunal ruled that the process to remove her had not adhered to rules of natural justice. It remains to be seen how far the MCAs will go given that the MP is heavily insulated by the DP