Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi at a past event. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi has blamed the loss of key seats by the opposition in the Coast region to ‘sibling rivalry’ among the National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition.
He said Thursday that had the coalition settled on a single candidate to vie against their Jubilee Party rivals, it would be confident of clinching the seats.Having several aspirants, noted Mwinyi, meant that the opposition votes would be split, giving their Jubilee rivals an upper edge.He cited the case in Kwale and Lamu counties where the President Uhuru Kenyatta-led party made great inroads after clinching the governorship.In Lamu, JP’s Fahim Twaha was declared the governor-elect after beating his challengers; Issa Timamy of ANC, Swaleh Salim of Wiper and ODM's Abdalla Mohamed.In Kwale, Governor Salim Mvurya of Jubilee won a second term after beating his main competitors; Chirau Mwakwere of Wiper and ODM’s Issah Kipera in the Tuesday poll.“The disadvantage we have in NASA is that we're competing amongst ourselves. If at all we failed to clinch any seat, it’s as a result of our own division amongst the NASA fraternity,” said Mwinyi as quoted by The Star.Mwinyi, who is set for re-election according to the provisional results, made the remarks at his home in Port Reitz.He said the Orange party has, or had, the capability of clinching all seats in the region if it is more organised and worked as a team.The lawmaker stated that NASA was the dominant coalition in the region, with ODM as the party of choice for majority of residents.“We believe that given the chance, Kenya will be a better country in the next few years if at all we, (NASA), manage to clinch the presidency,” he noted.