President Uhuru Kenyatta at a past event. [Photo/ magaalo.com]
With over 120,000 votes up for grabs in Taita Taveta County, the battle for the numbers pitting Jubilee Party and the opposition has been on top gear with only less than four months remaining to the August polls.
In the past few months, President Uhuru Kenyatta-led Jubilee Party has shown insatiable appetite to make inroads in a region that is considered Raila Odinga's political turf.Using development projects to sway the region into the Jubilee formation, two senior politicians in the county have since switched their political allegiance.The County Women Representative Joyce Ley and Taita Taveta Senator Dan Mwazo ditched Raila’s ODM for the ruling party.With the influence commanded by Taveta MP Naomi Shaban, many political pundits claimed that Jubilee had successfully conquered the region. However, that recent success has been pegged back following the decision by Shaban to quit the party ahead of the April 21 nominations.Shabaan has undoubtedly been the President’s staunch defender in the hostile Coast region. And her decision to ditch the party will have far reaching political consequences ahead of the August contest.As to whether she will join any of the NASA coalition affiliate parties is a matter of time. However, her presence in Taita politics will influence voting patterns considering her political clout in the county having been in the game for over 15 years now.With only Mwazo and Ley remaining to sell Jubilee's agenda in the county where opposition enjoys a fanatical following, the party’s game plan has been dealt a blow and for them to get a slice of the votes, they must rethink their strategy.