A section of Mombasa city. Photo/ worldtourismplace.com
The Mombasa Governor seat is becoming one the most sought-after positions if the latest political activities in the county is anything to go by.
The tussle between ODM's Hassan Joho and Wiper's Nyali MP Hezron Awiti and Senator Hassan Omar is threatening to split the NASA coalition camp into two factions.On the other side, there is Jubilee's Suleiman Shahbal and his running mate Anania Mwaboza who are also keen to wrestle power from Joho.However, as the race shapes up, the tribal matrix in the cosmopolitan county will be key during the August polls.The Mijikenda, the county's single largest voting community will most likely have a big say in the August 8, polls. With Hazel Katana as his running mate in 2013, Joho got the share of the vote. However, her decision to ditch ODM for Jubilee seems to have complicated Joho's math.The Kamba community boasts as the county's second largest voting community and with the Wiper Party having a good following in the ODM-dominated county, the Wiper candidate may become the greatest beneficiary of the Kamba votes.Shahbal's choice of Mwaboza as his running mate may also tilt the scales in the race for Mijikenda votes.On the other side, Awiti has a huge following from the Luo community whose numbers should not be ignored. Above that, other non-native communities in the county seem to be backing the lawmaker's bid.However, with majority of the county MP's who are from the Mijikenda community backing Joho, other aspirants should play it safe lest the ODM deputy party leader edges them in the battle for the precious numbers.