Nasa principals Raila Odinga, Musalia Mudavadi, Kalonzo Musyoka, Moses Wetangula and Isaac Ruto during a past event in Mombasa. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
With a combined total of 861,264 registered voters, Mombasa and Kwale counties may play a key role in the race for State House with the two main political formations, NASA and Jubilee, scheming to outmaneuver each other.
Jubilee has shown insatiable appetite to make inroads into the region which overwhelmingly voted for Raila Odinga in 2013. However, NASA is keen to galvanize their support base ahead of the August 8 polls.According to NASA's campaign schedule for the next 12 days, Kwale and Mombasa will be among the last counties that the Raila Odinga-led team will tour.This move comes as a masterstroke in their bid to water down Jubilee gains in the region with President Uhuru Kenyatta having led the charm offensive of the region just one week ago.Odinga's last campaign tour in Mombasa was in March, before he was named the NASA flag bearer. Since then, Jubilee has been camping in the county regularly, keen to better their tally of around 64,000 in 2013.On the other hand, in Kwale County, the campaign tour may finally yield fruits in their last-minute push to have one of the gubernatorial candidates shelf their ambitions and support the other.ODM's Issa Chipera and Wiper's Chirau Mwakwere are embroiled in a bruising sibling rivalry that is now threatening to hand Jubilee's Salim Mvurya an easy win.Besides that, it will give the coalition an opportunity to campaign for their candidates who are facing opposition from their Jubilee rivals and independents.