Big blow to NASA as Jubilee clinches top Lamu seats

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Lamu ,governor Fahim(second from centre) Twaha,senator Anwar Loitiptip and woman rep Ruweida Obo.(R). Twaha and Obbo lead a group of leaders in storming out of a LAPSSET stakeholder meeting on Thursday PHOTO: NATASHA NEMA.

Lamu, KENYA: Jubilee has won the elections in Lamu county by a margin of more than 85% in a move that has shocked many who thought Lamu to be a NASA stronghold.

Fahim Twaha  of Jubilee party has officially been declared the new governor elect after he beat the incumbent Issa Timamy of ANC after garnering 22,972 votes against Timamy’s 22,484 in what was described as a very tight race.

Timamy joins a host of other incumbents in Lamu and Kenya who have been floored and thrown out by the new wave of newcomers so far.

Twaha was officially declared governor and handed his election certificate by the county elections manager Mohamed Adan at the Lamu fort on Friday morning.

He has been Timamy’s rivals for the longest rival and this is his second shot at the gubernatorial positions after he lost to Timamy in 2013.

He had back then rejected the election results on grounds of election malpractices and filed a petition challenging Timamy’s election in the high court and lost after it was thrown out later on at the Supreme court.

Twaha is not new in politics as has served before as Lamu West MP for over 15 years between 2007 to 2013 when he decided to run for governor and lost.

Fate seems to have smiled at him this time as he prepares to take over reigns as the county governor.

Twaha holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Nairobi.

In his acceptance speech, Twaha said his first priority within his first 100 days in office will be to ‘undo the harm done to Lamu by my predecessor’.

He said Timamy had largely divided the people of Lamu along tribal lines and that his main objective was to ensure Lamu is united once again just like old times.

Twaha pledged to scout for national government projects in Lamu county in order to ensure adequate development and creation of jobs and such work towards alleviating rampant poverty.

He said contrary to his predecessor Issa Timamy who has been opposed to government projects in the county,he would encourage the government to bring in more investors and would support any project that promises to change fortunes for the county.

“Lamu has been damaged at hands of my predecessor.Theres so much tribalism which wasn’t ther before.People no longer regard each other as brothers and sisters but as so and so from this tribe. My predecessor has made Lamu poorer by rejecting every single development project by the national government.I will encourage the government to invest in Lamu,”said Twaha.

His predecessor has however not come out to either accept the results or concede defeat.

Another of Jubilee’s big wins is at the senate seat which has been taken over by youthful and inexperienced Anwar Loitiptip of Jubilee who got 14,432 against his closest rival Hassan Albeity of WDP who followed closely with 14,374 votes.

Loitiptip will be remembered for flooring incumbent senator Abu Chiaba at the Jubilee primaries in the county and winning the adoration of many as the young, inexperienced tuck who floored a veteran.

Chiaba has been in politics for more than two decades having started out MP for Lamu east in 1992-1997 when he lost the polls and later made a comeback in the 2002 elections for the same seat and won and served to 2013.

He ran for senator in 2013 when he ran and clinched the senatorial seat.

The 31 year old holds a Bachelor’s Degree on International Tourism from Uganda’s Kampala University.

He pledged to use his young age to an advantage and convince the youth in Lamu to stay away from the drugs and also ensure more resources are directed to Lamu from the national government to ensure development in the region.

Anwar said he is also dedicated towards ensuring the county government gets more money to ensure mega projects such as the sh.25 trillion LAPSSET and other multi-billion mega projects including the Sh 21 billion Wind Power project at Baharini area in Mpeketoni, the Sh 200 billion coal-fired power plant at Kwasasi area in Hindi Division and the Gas Extraction project by Zarara Oil and Gas Company in Pate Island are fast-tracked.

The incoming senator who is the third born in a family of four is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree on Political Science at the University of Nairobi.

The Lamu east MP seat has been won by the incumbent Athman Sharif of Jubilee.

The 40 year old holds a Bachelor of Science in Leadership from the California Marimar University.

Jubilee also won the Women rep seat which was taken by little known Ruweida Obo who floored incumbent Shakilla Abdalla of WDP after garnering 23,146 against Shakilla’s 13,387 votes.

The 39 year old Ruweida is a certified pilot from the Kenya School of Flying where she pursued a Commercial/Professional Pilot course.

She pledged to help uplift the women of Lamu by making available development funds from the national government and setting up self-help kitties.

A considerable number of Jubilee MCAs have also won seats.

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