NASA leader Raila Odinga and Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho [Photo/nation.co.ke]
The 2017 political battle in Mombasa proved to be one of the most challenging in the political life of ODM leader Raila Odinga and his deputy Hassan Joho who is also the Governor of Mombasa.
Having won four out of the six parliamentary seats in Mombasa during the 2013 poll, ODM was keen to bag all the seats in the 2017 contest- an ambition that came with its fair share of challenges.
The Nyali MP seat was one or the hotly contested even as Raila found himself in a political dilemma.
In the battle for the Orange Party ticket were bitter rivals Mohammed Ali of the Jicho Pevu fame and Said Abdalla, Joho's cousin.
Saido was banking on Joho's influence within ODM to springboard his political ambitions.
On the other hand, Ali who was largely seen as Raila's preferred candidate was using his name which he had made over the years as his main asset. Predicting the winner remained a matter of a gambler has a choice.
In the April nominations, against everyone's expectations, Saido was controversially declared the winner of the bruising nominations. Ali protested the move as he lodged a complaint with the party's disputes tribunal.
However, the tribunal upheld his rival's win.
But in what can be likened to the proverbial nine lives of a cat, Ali got an escape route to save his dwindling political fortunes. He swiftly dumped ODM and decided to run as an independent candidate.
Prior to the August 8 poll, Raila and Joho had advocated for the infamous 'six-piece' voting pattern- asking residents to reject independent candidates across all their strongholds.
This was seen as a major blow to Ali's burning political ambitions.
However, during the August 8 contest, Ali pulled a major political surprise of 2017 as he clinched the seat by a landslide.
Raila and Joho's ambition to clinch all Mombasa parliamentary seats was crushed even as ODM suffered humiliation in Nyali for the second time in four years.
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