The Orange democratic Movement ODM party has suffered a blow after a section of Mombasa county assembly contestants who lost in the just concluded party nominations declared to vie Independently in the August polls.

The party is now suffering mass exodus after losers vowed not to support winners in the nomination, a move likely to deal a blow to the party ahead of August 9 polls.

Among them is nominated county assembly member Moses Aran who lost to the current sitting MCA Tobias Samba in the Tudor ward seat nomination contest.

Aran vents his anger towards the ODM party over how they conducted the party primaries, terming them a sham and now feels betrayed.

His candidature as an independent candidate now puts party supporters at crossroads on whether to support the candidate with the party ticket or support him as an independent candidate.

"The people of Tudor want a change, they feel betrayed and believe that the independent elctoral and boundaries Comission IEBC will be most transparent and credible organization," said Aran.

Aran says the decision to run independent was reached after thorough soul searching and consultation from the electorates of Tudor ward.

ODM had asked losers of the nomination to support winners so as to avert mass exodus in the party.

"I am obliged to listen to the people of Tudor who have shown great faith in me to represent them, they braved the scorching sun and long queues only to be subjected to a sham process that circumvented their will, "said Aran.

Ali Shomari who lost in the Magogoni is now contesting as an independent candidate for the Magogoni ward representative seat.

On his part, reknown human rights activist Mathias Shipeta also expressed his interest for the Mikindani county assembly seat after losing his nomination slot in the ODM primaries.

"I thank God I have been cleared to run as an independent candidate, Mungu Mbele, it's not over till it's over," said Shipeta.

Earlier, Shipeta had told his supporters of his plans to pursue legal action.

"I want to thank all my supporters for participating in the nomination process full of electoral malpractices, voter bribery and double voting. We shall persue all legal means necessary as enshrined in our constitution. I want to reiterate that lts not over utill it's over. l was born a fighter and we shall fight till the end. Thank you. Shipeta Mathias." he said.

Others are Dorothy Juma from Junda ward who is also going as Independent candidate in the elections, meaning that the party she represented will have to lose her supporters.

Milka Areba,who lost to Patrick Mbelle in the Bamburi ward representative nomination seat has opted to stay out of the race.

“I will continue to serve my party of choice (ODM) with the same zeal and propel it’s ideals as before. I live to fight another day”. Said Areba

The Orange Democratic Movement ODM party leadership in Mombasa had cancelled nomination tickets for three wards after the nomination process was marred with Chaos.

Mtopanga, Magogoni, Kongowea wards tickets were cancelled after voters are said to have disrupted the voting process during nominations. This means that ODM party may consider a repeat of the nomination polls.

Deputy President William Ruto has unveiled his dream team for Mombasa county political seats ahead of the UDA party primaries set for Thursday.

According to Ruto, former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar is the UDA party flag bearer for the Mombasa governor seat race, former Mombasa governor Hassan Joho's adviser Khamis Mwaguya will fly the party's flag in the Mombasa Senator race.

"It is with great Honor and deep Humility that I accept to be the Senate Flag Bearer of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) for our Great City of Mombasa." posted Mwaguya.

Fatma Barayan will be flying the party's flag in the Mombasa Women representative race.

Parliamentary slots will be filled by Nyali Mp Mohammed Ali who will be defending his seat on a UDA ticket, Karisa Nzai (Jomvu), Isaac Malilah (Changamwe), Omar Shalo (Mvita) and Mohammed Mwahima (Likoni).

According to Ruto, the candidates were settled on after consensus talks.

"We are glad the Mombasa UDA team has reached a consensus on Hassan Omar Hassan as its gubernatorial candidate, Khamisi Mwaguya as the Senate contender, and Fatma Bakari Barayan as the Women Representative contestant," Ruto said.

Tanzanian singer Rajab Abdul a.ka Harmonize has been under heavy criticism over allegations of buying fake youtube views after his latest song 'Mdomo' ft Ibrah, one of his signees, recorded over 1.3 million views just 24 seconds after it's official release.

The views came as a shock to many, setting a new record of being the first music video to gain such views, given that only Korean pop group BTS currently holds YouTube record of 113 million views in 24 hours for their song ‘Butter’. 

What is even more interesting, is that 10 hours later this morning, the song has 1.5 million views and is currently trending at number 29.

Well, the singer who has of late been making headlines has now come out to respond to his critics.

"Kondeboy ndio msanii mwenye hela kuliko wote Tanzania na Africa Mashariki kumbe!!." posted Harmonize.

Adding " Hizo kelele tushazizoea la msingi na linalo liwakilisha taifa zaidi ni history imeandikwa. Alafu acheni kuchafua habari zilizolibeba taifa."

This is not the first time that Harmonize is finding himself in such controversy. Last year, he was also on the spotlight after his video 'Teacher' recorded over 1 million views within 10 hours and 2 million views within 14 hours.

The wiper party has insisted that former Nairobi governor Mike Sonko is in the race to succeed Hassan Joho as the Mombasa governor.

Speaking on Citizen TV on Tuesday, April 13, Wiper National Election Board (NEB) Chairperson, Agatha Solitei maintained that the party had submitted Sonko's name to IEBC as an aspirant for the position of Mombasa governor.

"Yes, we submitted his name to IEBC on 9th April for Mombasa gubernatorial" said Solitei.

Adding " We do have another aspirant, Ali Mbogo who also submitted his papers for gubernatorial, so we have two of them".

Solitei revealed that the party is currently in consultation with the two aspirants in a bid to reach a consensus.

 "If we do not reach a consensus then we will go for the contest" she said.

The Kalonzo Musyoka led party is expected to conduct its primaries today (Wednesday).

A family in Jomvu, Mombasa county is demanding for justice following the mysterious death of their kin who was allegedly under police custody at the Mikindani police cell on Monday.

According to the family of Andrew Musakhale police continued to detain their kin even after he had complained about being sick.

It is reported that Andrew had been detained after failing to clear a debt of Sh 57,000 he had borrowed a friend.

His brother Billy Musakhale, claims that his deceased brother had a complication of high blood pressure and may have succumbed to the health complications. The family resides at Kwa Jomvu Mikanjuni Village.

The family now wants an explanation about what transpired arguing that police in had not booked him in the police Obstract book (OB )even after he had been arrested and taken to the police cell.

"I received a call from my another elder brother on Monday 7 pm night  who informed me that our brother who had been arrested and detained in a police cell is no more, I was shocked because it was not our expectation that one can die when in the hands of police," said Billy.

His brother claims that the people who took him to police did so with total disregard of his health condition and is now reading mischief following contradictory information from police.

"My father called me at around 12 noon and asked me to come and rescue him because he was detained at Mikindani crime cell, he told me some people have beaten him for failing to pay back a debt of Sh 57,000 he had borrowed and later called police to come and arrest him ",said Amal  Ndoro daughter to the diseased.

According to Ndoro, the police ignored the plight of his father even after severally pleading with them to betaken to hospital after his health condition deteriorated while in the Mikindani police cell.

"I pleaded with the police to remove my dad from the cell because he had called me asking for my help, but the police declined, if they listened to me, my dad could not have died, what we are asking is the government to investigate and the right of my father to be realised,"said Amal.

The move attracted condemnation from human rights groups led by Haki Africa rapid response officer Alexander Bella,who are now demanding action on the officers who went to arrest a sick person.

The human rights organization wants action taken to those who arrested the sick man, and those who detained him even after decrying for help following his deteriorating heath condition.

"This is a civil case ,we wonder why police went arrested him and placed him in a cell while he complained of being sick, we have engaged IPOA to intervene," said Bella.

The late was once a producer who produced several movies in Mombasa and by the time of his death he was a businessman and had four children.

The family is awaiting a postmortem report which was done at the Coast provincial General  and referral hospital CPGTRH.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta has rallied health sector stakeholders to invest more in interventions aimed at strengthening Kenya's disease resilience through collaborative efforts.

The First Lady said inadequate resilience to disease outbreaks among Kenyan communities, especially among vulnerable groups, has the potential to disrupt the country's march towards the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

“Today we see encouraging signs of declining cases of Covid-19 globally, but, we cannot forget the fragilities of our health system, and the need to increase our resilience so that we can protect ourselves from potential disruptions that are still a reality.

“Pandemics such as Covid-19 can impede our efforts towards building a secure health system that brings our country closer to achieving universal health coverage,” the First Lady said.

First Lady Margaret Kenyatta spoke on Tuesday when she officially opened the International Conference on Health Promotion at Kenyatta University held under the theme, “Promoting Health during and Beyond Covid-19".

While reflecting on the negative impacts of Covid-19, First Lady Margaret Kenyatta hailed the conference for bringing together stakeholders to develop synergies, create partnerships and find solutions to Kenya's health challenges.

“It will also contribute to identifying sustainable practices that will build on our collective efforts of improving the wellbeing of our communities, especially vulnerable populations who have been impacted the most,” the First Lady said.

She said it was critical to ensure that vulnerable communities especially women and children need special attention owing to inequalities in healthcare access.

“These inequalities have been a key concern that have heightened Government's investment towards increasing health access for its populations. This is why it is critical that we share our lessons and learnings from this pandemic and align our recovery measures with long term sustainable strategies,” the First Lady said.

Once again, the First Lady acknowledged the contribution of health promotion in defeating Covid-19 noting that, public health measures such as hand washing, wearing face masks and social distancing helped contain the disease.

“Many of the containment measures that we adopted and relied upon to prevent the public and healthcare workers from getting infected, and our health systems from being overwhelmed, imply a change in behaviour.

“Hand washing, wearing face masks and social distancing, are all forms of human behaviour. In addition, health authorities have tried to enhance protective behaviour amongst the public, by issuing warnings and recommendations about this new virus,” the First Lady noted.

Going forward, the First Lady proposed the creation of a health promotion mechanism that will take all stakeholders on board so as to ensure that Kenyans have access to adequate health information.

“Health literacy efforts and multi-sectorial action that contribute to increased healthy behaviours are key lessons that are essential in safeguarding the public’s health,” the First Lady said.

She emphasized the need for unity of action among health sector stakeholders saying their diversity of knowledge and experiences should be harnessed to develop meaningful solutions.

“Our collective diverse knowledge provides significant opportunities that we can leverage on to develop meaningful solutions to global health crises. Through clear communication based on health literacy, as well as through collaboration across countries, disciplines, health and education systems,” the First Lady said.

In her speech, Health CAS Dr Mercy Mwangangi applauded the First Lady for her leading role in health promotion and service provision especially to vulnerable groups through her Beyond Zero initiative.

On his part, Kenyatta University Vice Chancellor Prof Paul Wainaina called for new health approaches that suit local situations and needs by building community capacity, and assured of the university's commitment to continue supporting the strengthening of Kenya's health systems through training and research.

The opening ceremony was also addressed by Kenyatta University Council Chairman Prof Shem Migot-Adhola, Red Cross Secretary General Asha Mohammed and UNICEF Kenya Country Representative Maniza Zaman among others.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has commended constitutional commissions and independent offices in the country for the effective delivery of their mandates.

Noting that since their establishment under the Constitution of Kenya 2010 the constitutional commissions and independent offices have proved to be key pillars of sovereignty and democracy, the President asked them to continue working closely in achieving the hopes, aspirations and dreams of Kenyans.

“While independent and not under the direction and control of any person or authority, your commissions and offices remain part of the Government of Kenya, and the people of Kenya expect that you will work in synergy with the rest of the Government towards achieving the hopes, aspirations and dream of our People,” President Kenyatta said.

President Kenyatta spoke today during a meeting with chairpersons of the constitutional commissions and holders of independent offices who paid him a courtesy call at State House, Nairobi.

Speaking during the meeting, the chairperson of the forum of the heads of constitutional commissions and independent offices Mr Gershom Otachi appreciated the support the Government has accorded their offices for the past 10 years.

Mr Otachi also assured Kenyans that the constitutional commissions and independent offices will play their rightful role in ensuring a smooth and peaceful transition to the next administration according to the law.

He briefed the President of the celebrations that will be held tomorrow to mark the 10th anniversary since the establishment of the constitutional commissions and independent offices under the new constitutional dispensation ushered in by Kenyans in 2010.

In this regard, President Kenyatta urged the constitutional commissions and independent offices to use their anniversary celebrations to reflect and commit to dedicating their efforts to serving Kenyans.

“As a forum and as individual Commissions and Offices, I trust that you shall use this opportunity to also brainstorm on how you can better cooperate amongst yourselves and leverage on your shared position as Chapter 15 commissions.

“In every word and action you take as Commissions, you should advance the principles of governance and the national values espoused under Article 10 of the Constitution.  Every word and action you take should bring Kenya closer to being a more just, equitable and prosperous nation,” President Kenyatta said.

The meeting, attended by the chairpersons of the constitutional commissions and independent offices, was also grace by Head of Public Service Dr. Joseph Kinyua, Interior Cabinet Secretary Dr. Fred Matiang’i and Attorney General Paul Kihara.

Move over Johnny, newly welcomed Grammy alumni Yemi Alade is telling the world about her new man.

The Nigerian superstar opens up about the sweeter side of love with her new single “My Man” featuring Dancehall artist Kranium.

The two slow it down for this one, delivering an irresistible serenade over the jazzy, Afrobeats track. “My Man” is available on all streaming platforms.

Stream ‘My Man’ Here

In her recent viral Lip Service interview with Power 105.1’s Angela Yee, Yemi simply replies, “It’s a love story,” when asked what the song is about.

With further probing from Angela, Yemi goes on to admit that this single, however, is personal for her and blushingly recites the song’s chorus.

“Let me tell you about my man o

6 pack no be the thing wah mek me fall for Amo

I dey fell like a Queen whenever I dey by his side …”

In July 2019, Yemi Alade was featured on “Don’t Jealous Me”, a track from Beyoncé’s compilation album The Lion King: The Gift. She appeared on the track alongside Mr Eazi and Tekno.

Rolling Stone magazine revealed that Yemi Alade also recorded a verse for an earlier version of “My Power”.

Yemi Alade is one of the first females in the Afro Beats genre to hit over 100 million views on YouTube and over 1 million dedicated subscribers.

With four albums, one EP and mega hits such as “Johnny”, “Ferrari”,  “Na Gode” and “Bum Bum” under her belt, Yemi Alade is the No 1 Afro Pop female artist on the African continent.

Beyond the studio, Yemi continues to make an impact in the entertainment world, donning titles such as composer, actress and producer.

She is a BET Awards 2015 and 2016 nominee for Best International Act Africa, a two-times nominee MOBO Awards for Best International Act 2014 and 2015, Winner MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) for Best Female 2015 and 2016. 

Oluwatobiloba Daniel Anidugbe, better known as Kizz Daniel releases the video for Oshe as a follow-up to his last visual, Pour Me Water.

The singer comes through with another exciting single from his latest effort, BARNABAS EP, to feed our screens.

Kizz Daniel’s 2021 Most streamed EP Barnabas, his first studio effort since 2020’s King of Love, lets him to explore the full spectrum of his wide sound pallet.

 Kizz Daniel portrays genuine, honest visions of life, love, and vulnerability on “Barnabas,” which means “songs of encouragement.”

He was able to explore with sounds, including an urban mix of Afrobeat and Afro-pop, as well as highlife and island sounds.

 Oshe, from the Barnabas EP, features The Cavemen and is a highlife track.

‘Oshe’ is a synthesis of Western and Eastern cultures. It’s a song about displaying off your loved ones on social media without feeling bad about it, and also without worrying about making other people uncomfortable.

The picturesque visual directed by the Alien, is aesthetically pleasing with Kizz Daniel showing off his ladies in the most afrocentric and fashionistic way possible, each scene telling its unique story.

The music video reached 1.1 million streams in four days.

Former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko in the new entrant in the race to succeed Hassan Joho as the next Mombasa county Governor.

Sonko who was impeached by the Nairobi County Assembly in December 2020is expected to vie for the position on a wiper ticket, one of the parties forming the Azimio coalition.

Sonko's name was submitted to the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) by the Kalonzo Musyoka-led Wiper Democratic Movement as one of those who had been cleared to run in the party primaries.

Sonko's name was listed along Kisauni Mp Ali Mbogo who is also eyeing the governor seat on an Wiper ticket. It is still not yet clear if the two will face off in the party primaries.

Sonko who has been operating from Mombasa, managing his businesses which includes the posh Volume club in Shanzu decamped from Jubilee to Wiper on March 22, 2022, ostensibly to revive his political career following his impeachment.

Other politicians seeking to succeed Joho are Mvita Mp Abdulswamad Nassir, businessman Suleiman Shahbal, former Mombasa senator Hassan Omar and  Mombasa deputy governor William Kingi.

https://ommydalla.co.ke/politics/item/2347-political-battle-looms-as-race-to-succeed-joho-gains-momentum