Jumwa throws her weight behind new Coast-based party

Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa has thrown her weight behind the Umoja Summit Party of Kenya, accusing Orange Democratic Movement and Jubilee parties of using and dumping Coast residents.

This came hours after police scuttled plans to disrupt a meeting by the Embrace movement made up of women leaders supporting the Building Bridges Initiative at Karisa Maitha grounds, Kilifi.

During a funeral in Mtondia village, Tezo ward, Ms Jumwa said the people of Kilifi had been misused by the parties they supported wholeheartedly.

“There is time for everything. Mijikendas are tired. If a local party will be our salvation, then I am fully behind USPK,” the lawmaker said.

Ms Jumwa has distanced herself from ODM — the party that took her to Parliament — and now supports Deputy President William Ruto.

FALLOUT

Kilifi North MP Owen Baya promised to call a meeting of leaders from the Coast “to chart a new path outside of the dominant parties”.

Though he has not declared his stand, Mr Baya has criticised ODM “for failing to recognise the efforts of Kilifi people and our loyalty to the party”.

However, he is still pushing his agenda through ODM and is close to party leader Raila Odinga.

USPK Secretary-General Naomi Cidi urged Coast politicians to abandon Jubilee and ODM. “We are tired of depending on other people’s parties. We should support our own however small it appears to be,” she said.

“ODM and Jubilee are big parties but they have not assisted us. Let us construct our house for that is what will give us the best shelter.”

In the August 8, 2017 General Election, Governor Amason Kingi, Senator Stewart Madzayo, Woman Representative Gertrude Mbeyu and all the seven Kilifi MPs won their seats on ODM tickets.

Twenty-seven of the 35 ward representatives in the county are ODM members.

TEAM EMBRACE

Among those who have shown interest in Mr Kingi’s seat are Deputy Governor Edmond Saburi and Lands Chief Administrative Secretary Gideon Mung’aro, who will be in the gubernatorial race for the second time in 2022. Mr Kingi is serving his second and last term.

Ms Jumwa has been at war with the ODM leadership and remains opposed to the March 9, 2018 handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and Mr Odinga, saying it is a waste of time and resources.

Her attempt to scuttle the Team Embrace weekend rallies is seen as a campaign to reduce the opposition party’s stranglehold of the region’s politics.

Ms Jumwa said Team Embrace is a fallacy and accused Ms Mbeyu of “betraying those who elected her in order to please outsiders”.

The Malindi MP told politicians from other parts of the country that Kilifi “has its owners”.

PRO-VIOLENCE

Team Embrace was in Kilifi and Mombasa counties during the weekend, drumming up support for the handshake.

“It is wrong for Jumwa to give women money to come and heckle us during our meetings,” Homa Bay Woman Representative Gladys Wanga said.

Her Murang’a counterpart Sabina Chege accused Ms Jumwa of promoting violence at Inua Mama team meetings.

She was referring to a group of women MPs drumming up support for Deputy President William Ruto’s presidential ambitions.

“Why would you fan fire against your colleagues and then leave for Nairobi pretending to be innocent?” the Murang'a Woman Representative posed.