Kingi, Mung’aro strike power deal – Weekly Citizen

Mung’aro

Kilifi governor Amason Kingi and ministry of Lands chief administrative secretary Gideon Mung’aro have buried the hatchet and are jointly scheming for 2022 general elections.
Kingi and Mung’aro were bitter political opponents in the 2017 general elections.
After the elections, Kingi decided to lean towards William Ruto as he briefly fought for Coast political supremacy with Mombasa governor Hassan Joho at the behest of Mijikenda legislators.
But Kingi has since decamped from DP’s Coast political wing and has reunited with his Mombasa counterpart to fight for space in the post Uhuru succession race.
Sources say Kingi has left Ruto due to Aisha Jumwa, the Malindi MP whom the DP is grooming as his Coast political pointperson.

Kingi

To counter Jumwa’s political inroads in Kilifi county and to stop her from succeeding him, Kingi is said to have reached out to Mung’aro whom he wants to front on an ODM ticket as his preferred successor.
Kingi is aware that his initial plan of having his brother Michael Kingi, the Magarini MP succeed him as governor is unsellable.
Mung’aro will be an easy candidate to market on ODM ticket for he is still a popular politician whose rejection was due to his affiliation to an unpopular political party in the county. Kilifi is opposition leaning and no amount of development initiatives by Jubilee could sway the masses in the last general elections.
Even former banker Philip Charo who is hugely popular in Malindi constituency was rejected at the ballot when he decided to stick with Jubilee against calls by his supporters to cross over to opposition or even run as an independent.
Without governor Kingi’s support, observers say, Jumwa will literary be limping towards the 2022 Kilifi governor race. Issues like alleged misappropriation of funds raised by Ruto for women groups when she served as county women representative will be magnified to dent her bid.

jumwa

Other aspirants who have begun scheming for the Kilifi governorship race ahead of 2022 also includes deputy governor Gedion Saburi, Kilifi North MP Owen Baya and Gabriel Katana, currently CEC for education in the county government.
It is not clear if Senator Stewart Madzayo is serious in seeking the governor’s seat as a few of his supporters have been repeatedly heard proposing.
Kilifi county assembly speaker Jimmy Kahindi has in the past distanced himself from suggestions that he is a governor candidate for 2022 general elections.
He says he is contented in serving Kilifi residents in his current position and wonders why people and media are persistent in dragging his name into the governor contest without seeking his views.
However, it remains to be seen, the turns and bends the Kilifi governor race will take as the clock ticks towards the next general elections.