ODM leader Raila Odinga is facing a real political test since his March 9, 2018, handshake with President Uhuru Kenyatta with the Kibra constituency by-election expected to be hotly contested.
The former Prime Minister has been at the centre of the region’s politics since his days as Lang’ata MP before the constituency was split after the promulgation of the 2010 constitution to create the new political unit which the ODM candidate won in 2013 and 2017.
With the constituency’s first lawmaker gone, Raila is keen to ring-fence the region from encroachment by his political rivals.
With the contest expected to be a do-or-die affair between ODM and Jubilee Party, what are Raila’s options to carry the day?
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho is the man Raila should quickly dispatch to Kibra to spearhead his Party’s campaigns.
Known for his electrifying campaigns and appeals to young voters, Joho may emerge as ODM’s black messiah in Kibra in a political contest that is slowly degenerating into a battle between Raila and Deputy President William Ruto.
In 2017, Joho became crowd-favourite and this is his main key political attribute that has built his successful political career. Even, as he aims, to expand his own political tentacles, Kibra is the right place for him to do that, considering it is ODM’s political boiler room.
The presence of Joho in Kibra will give Raila a crucial head start going into that by-election. If not, ODM will limp into the poll and possibly suffer huge humiliation.
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