With the country’s next general elections fast approaching, Kakamega county Governor Wycliffe Oparanya has been told to brace himself for a tough battle. Retired Major Suleiman Sumba, the latest entrant in the race for Kakamega county gubernatorial seat, issued the forewarning when he met The National Alliance (TNA) Lugari and Likuyani branch officials at Turbo’s Spring Park Hotel.
Sumba asked Oparanya to desist from making disparaging utterances over his decision to join the race for the governorship, promising to give the incumbent a run for his money. “Oparanya should stop treating as underdogs those who have shown interest in the gubernatorial seat,” cautioned Sumba, who until three months ago, was part of Oparanya’s County Executive Committee (CEC) in charge of gender, youth and sports affairs.
Sumba, who was flanked by the party’s county chairperson and general secretary, Desmond Shinaka and Donard Musi respectively, urged officials and aspirants for various elective seats to help popularize the yet to be launched Jubilee Party in the two sub counties. TNA is an affiliate of the Jubilee Party, with reliable reports indicating it will be officially unveiled in September this year.
The retired major shocked residents of Kakamega County in June this year when he announced his resignation from the county government before plunging himself into elective politics again.
During the last general elections, Sumba was among the aspirants for Kakamega County’s gubernatorial seat under New Ford Kenya (NFK) party. However, the major failed to advance past the preliminaries after he was trounced by the late Soita Shitanda for the NFK’s ticket. Sumba then accused NFK of favoritism and lack of democracy in NFK before he decamped to Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) where he decided to support Oparanya.
According to Musi, apart from the gubernatorial position, Jubilee Party will field candidates in all elective seats in the county, including senatorial, women representative, and members of parliament and county assembly. Sumba joins Kakamega Senator, Boni Khalwale, who has already publicly declared his intention to unseat Oparanya in 2017 elections.