Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi on Wednesday publicly disagreed with Deputy President William Ruto, who had told him to abandon his push for a Coast party and instead decamp to UDA. The two leaders met in Kwale during the burial of Governor Salim Mvurya’s mother who had succumbed to cancer.
”I am not in UDA yet. I’m the Jubilee deputy party leader, and Coast MPs working with me like Dalu Tayari (Kinango) and Aisha Jumwa (Malindi) are in ODM. I am asking everyone to come aboard the hustler movement and ensure a united country,” Ruto told Governor Kingi, who dismissed the DP’s overtures, saying interests of the people of the Coast region will not be fully addressed in UDA, hence his reason of forming anew party.
Read: Governor Kingi’s new party to back Raila Odinga in 2022
”What is it that stops us from sinking our borehole and join others who have their boreholes? It is a risk to go to somebody else’s borehole to beg for water. You might be denied the water or be asked to wait until the owner has had enough of it. You complained in your current political parties that you were given a raw deal, but I tell you if it is only Ruto’s party, the narrative will be the same,” the Kilifi county boss told the region’s leaders present at the burial.
Msambweni MP Feisal Bader, Taita Taveta County Women Rep Lydia Tayari, and Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa were urged by the Kilifi governor associated with the Pamoja Alliance (PAA).
Even though he has not officially taken over PAA as its leader, Governor Kingi is said to be one of the party leaders currently affiliated with Raila Odinga’s 2022 bid, and it is believed PAA will be part of a broad alliance to be headed by Mr. Odinga.
Read: Kingi meets OKA principals amid talks of a new broader coalition
Speaking on Monday, Kingi said his recent political moves were aimed at consolidating Kilifi and the Coastal strip for Raila Odinga, whom he says will be the greatest beneficiary.
”In all these things I am doing, the biggest beneficiary is Raila Odinga,” Kingi told a local publication on phone.
