Cord and Jubilee supporters should not engage in too much jubilation over the victory they have garnered in Malindi and Kericho, not just yet.
In fact, this is the best time to go back to the drawing board and sketch a well structured road map to fully gain control of the electorates in their respective strong holds.
JAP candidate Aaron Cheruiyot after a battling contest with the Kanu brigadiers managed to garner 105, 283 votes (64%) in Kericho, bearing in mind that at some point nearly the entire government except the president was campaigning for him, not to mention the kind of cash that was involved in the whole process.
Kericho's former Senator Charles Keter marched to the senate after marshalling a whole 201, 363 votes (77%), statistics that indicate the DP's grip on the rift has slipped, and the defiant KANU brigadiers were just trying to send a very strong message - we are watching you Mr DP.
The Malindi fiasco witnessed on Monday where nearly all the JAP and Cord lieutenants literary pitched camps in the coastal area to use all mechanisms to convince the electorates of their wining strategies, only saw Cord's candidate score 15, 582 votes against the JAP candidate who managed to gather 9, 242 votes.
Compared to the strong hold we knew, where the former Malindi Member of Parliament Dan Kazungu comfortably trounced all his rivals, the number of votes the opposition garnered is also a red signal to Cord that all is not well within its supposed strong holds.
Despite the huge crowds witnessed in Kericho and Malindi, it beats logic that we can still even talk of low voter turnout. If ferrying people to the rallies is not the answer to this riddle, then it depicts the low confidence that citizens have in the leaders.
The honeymoon festival is long overdue for JAP and Cord. The by-election served as a litmus paper to them, thanks to the president who shuffled his government.
Bearing in mind the time left before the 2017 general elections, the two sides really needed this and it couldn't have come at a better time than now.