Joho Under Pressure to Declare Political Path Ahead of General Elections

Caroline Katana

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

Kwale County ODM leaders have asked mining, blue economy and maritime affairs cabinet secretary Ali Hassan Joho to declare his political position ahead of the 2027 general election with some urging him to pursue the presidency.

The call came during an ODM gathering at Mvindeni on Saturday, August 15, 2026 where leaders and supporters voiced their strong opposition to the broad-based government (BBG) arrangement between ODM and President William Ruto’s administration.

They argued that the arrangement should not weaken ODM’s identity or prevent the party from pursuing its own political agenda and fielding its own candidates in next year’s polls.

Msambweni party chairman Suleiman Mwangugu told the CS and other national leaders to listen to the concerns of grassroots supporters saying democracy and the right of members to choose their leaders should be respected.

“Democracy must be respected,” he said.

The chairman called for a delegation of about 200 people from Kwale to meet President Ruto at State House and present their concerns directly.

He also raised concerns over the closure of a factory in Ramisi saying farmers and workers had been affected, and called for greater recognition of communities living in areas with mineral resources.

Lunga Lunga ODM leader Nassoro Bakari Mguta said many ordinary supporters had not been adequately informed about the BBG arrangement and wanted national leaders to explain what it meant for the party.

“Broad-based is not wanted in Lunga Lunga. Lunga Lunga does not want broad-based,” he said.

According to him ODM should be allowed to conduct its own political activities even as some of its leaders continue serving in government.

“We want our politics to remain ODM politics. Even if we have an alliance, we do not want joint politics,” he said.

A party female leader from Kinango told Joho to listen to the concerns of the party’s grassroots supporters terming him as a Coast leader with a strong connection to the region.

She challenged him to pursue a senior national leadership position saying party supporters wanted the freedom to choose their own leaders.

Both representatives from Matuga and Kinango echoed the same sentiments in solidarity with the County leadership position.

The Matuga representative said Kwale remained an ODM stronghold and insisted that President Ruto should engage directly with ODM delegates in the county if he wanted their political support.

“If President Ruto wants to speak to the people of Kwale and wants the votes of the people of Kwale, let him meet the ODM delegates of Kwale.”

The representative also called for local residents to benefit from employment opportunities expected from projects being implemented in the county.

The representative further said Kwale would be willing to support Ruto if Joho secured the position of Deputy President.

The Kinango ODM chairman a Mr Weko was even more direct openly challenging the CS to consider the presidential race next year.

He said Joho had already served as CS and that the next stage of his political journey should be the presidency.

“What remains is the presidency,” he told Joho drawing an enthusiastic response from the crowd.

He urged Joho to work and stand with the people of Kwale and listen to their demands if he wanted the presidency.

However, the CS stopped short of declaring his presidential ambitions or candidacy.

But instead, he called for unity within the coastal region urging the party supporters to honestly assess the party’s political journey before deciding its next direction.

He acknowledged that ODM’s support in the Coast had declined over the years saying the party enjoyed almost total support in the region in 2007 before falling to about 80 per cent in 2013 and later being reduced to two MPs in Kwale.

He said the decline required an honest internal assessment.

“We have to sit down and establish where the rain started beating us. Then we retrace our steps, look at where we went wrong, correct ourselves and move forward,” he said.

The CS also defended his decision to work with President Ruto, saying his priority was to secure tangible development projects for the Coast.

He cited the Shimoni Fish Port, National Mariculture Resource and Training Centre (NAMARET), the Mwaepe project, the Maritime Institute and ongoing road projects as examples of investments he said were being delivered to the region.

Joho urged residents to assess the government’s record objectively and consider what had been delivered to the Coast.

He also highlighted changes in access to national identification documents, particularly for Coast residents who historically faced difficulties proving their Kenyan citizenship.

Joho said access to identification documents was directly linked to citizens’ ability to vote and benefit from government programmes such as bursaries and development projects.

He further praised the increase in funds allocated to grassroots development, saying the allocation had risen from Sh5 billion in the previous budget to Sh9 billion.

“These Sh9 billion, if they reach us, will give us real space to deal with our problems,” he said.

At the same time, Joho acknowledged criticism from ODM members over his engagement with the government and admitted that the party had not done enough to engage its grassroots membership in Kwale.

He pledged to make the Mvindeni meeting a starting point for renewed engagement with ODM members.

Joho also proposed that ODM supporters from Kwale be allowed to meet President Ruto at State House and present their concerns directly, including demands for roads, water and other development projects.

He urged political leaders to stop undermining one another whenever one of them rises to a higher position.

“Our weakness is that when one of us speaks, the first person to respond against them comes from among us,” he said.

Joho called for unity, forgiveness and political maturity, while maintaining that political parties had the right to advance their own positions.

“ODM should defend ODM and UDA should defend UDA,” he said.

The Mvindeni meeting highlighted growing unease among some ODM supporters in Kwale over the party’s cooperation with the Ruto administration and placed Joho at the centre of renewed debate over the Coast’s political future.

While Joho did not announce a presidential bid, the repeated calls from Kwale leaders for him to seek the presidency suggest that pressure for him to take a national political role is building ahead of the 2027 elections.