Wiper Party leader Kalonzo Musyoka at a past event. [Photo/ nation.co.ke]
Kalonzo Musyoka's Wiper Party has been operating under the shadows of Raila Odinga's ODM since the inception of the two parties in the run to the 2007 elections.Despite mounting spirited campaigns in the run to the August 8 polls, the party once again posted dismal performance in the six coastal counties with ODM reigning supreme.With the party's candidates falling to ODM and their Jubilee rivals, Wiper's only consolation came in Taita Taveta with Granton Samboja clinching the Governor seat and in Mombasa’s Kisauni Constituency where Ali Mbogo won the MP seat besides a few more MCA seats.Wiper's problems in the region started in Mombasa where the then party secretary general Hassan Omar and Nyali MP Hezron Awiti flexed their muscles over the party ticket to vie for Governor.Awiti later decamped from the party, his move coming just weeks after Jomvu MP Badi Twalib who won his seat on a Wiper ticket in the 2013 contest jumped to ODM.In the neighbouring Kwale County, former Matuga MP Chirau Ali Mwakwere, the party's biggest catch in the region, failed in his quest to unseat Governor Salim Mvurya.Wiper's troubles in the region deepened last week when Hassan Omar, the man who was the face of the party in the region resigned as secretary general.For now, the party lacks the main figures in the region, a scenario that may affect Kalonzo's 2022 presidential ambitions.