A Section of Political Leaders Endorse Joho as Coast ODM Kingpin 

By The COAST Team 

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

Coast leaders have closed ranks and endorsed mining cabinet secretary Hassan Joho as the region’s political flag-bearer in the post–Raila Odinga era.

At a gathering in Kilifi held to celebrate and honour the life of the late opposition leader Raila Odinga, leaders said Joho’s long political journey, influence and national outlook made him best placed to unite the Coast and articulate its interests on the national stage.

They argued that his rise from grassroots political journey to national leadership has given him the required experience to consolidate ODM support in the region while building bridges across the country, signalling a possible realignment of Coast politics around a home-grown kingpin.

Speaking at the event,  Joho said he was ready to lead the region, outlining a political roadmap that includes backing President William Ruto for a second term before pursuing his own presidential ambitions come 2032.

“It must be understood that we are supporting President William Ruto for two terms because Baba left us in the broad based government, and then after that, we will go for the presidential seat but that ambition can be achieved if we are united,” he said.

According to him the region had benefited from supporting the president and the late  Odinga adding that the region would honour the ODM leader’s legacy by completing a school named after his father, Jaramogi Oginga Odinga, in Matuga, Kwale County.

“We celebrated Odinga when he was alive and we will continue to do so even after his death, because he left a positive mark in our lives,” he said.

The CS urged leaders to end infighting, particularly attacks on ODM colleague and Suna East MP Junet Mohamed calling for unity within the party.

Former gender cabinet secretary Aisha Jumwa openly backed Joho saying Coast had consistently supported ODM and now deserved to produce the party’s top leadership.

“As the people of the Coast, we now need to stand together. Coast has always supported ODM, and Joho has invested a lot in the party. It is now the right time that the focus and leadership of the party goes to Joho. Joho has all it takes,” Jumwa said.

She warned that sidelining Joho would push the region to chart a different political path. 

“We cannot champion Coast unity without a leader. We need a leader, and that leader is Joho,” she said.

Kilifi North MP Ken Chonga echoed the sentiments saying Joho’s contribution to ODM is deeply embedded in the party’s history.

“You have played a big role in taking to where ODM is today. The history of ODM will not be complete without your name. There is no one who builds a home and then leaves it to go to a neighbour,” he said.

Kilifi Woman Representative Gertrude Mbeyu urged the CS to embrace the leadership mantle saying the region was firmly behind him.

On the other hand, Changamwe MP Omar Mwinyi described him as a courageous leader mentored by the late Odinga.

“Hassan Joho has proven to be a brave leader, and he is a good student of Raila Odinga,”  he said.

Youth affairs and creative economy principal secretary Jacob Fikirini said  Joho enjoyed the trust of the late ODM leader while Likoni MP Mishi Mboko noted that he was among the party’s founders who had sacrificed resources and time to build it.

Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir reaffirmed the Coast’s loyalty to ODM, eulogising Mr Odinga as a champion of devolution and democracy, and backing a strategy of supporting President Ruto in 2027 before rallying behind Mr Joho in 2032.

The endorsements underscore growing calls for a united Coast political path with leaders urging Joho to take up the mantle and steer the region’s agenda at the national level while safeguarding the legacy of the late Odinga.

Senate speaker Amason Kingi whose also the Pan African Alliance PAA never attended the Baba 80+1 dubbed Coast Salute birthday though much is doing rounds about his absence.

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