COUNTY POLITICS: Aspirants roll up sleeves as battle for Senate seat looms

With only five months left to the August 8 General Election, the race for the Taita Taveta Senate position is heating up.

A major political battle is in the offing with seven aspirants, among them two women, eying the seat currently held by Dan Mwazo.

Mr Mwazo will however not be defending his seat as he has set his sights on the county’s gubernatorial position.

Taita Taveta Woman Representative Joyce Lay and former Water and Irrigation Board member Anna Kina are the two women interested in the seat.

Other aspirants are Richard Tairo and Voi Girls Secondary School teacher Jones Mwaruma, both of whom are eying the Orange Democratic Movement party’s nod.

Also in the race is Jeremiah Kiwoi who will vie on a Social Democratic Party (SDP) ticket, former Taita Taveta County ICT executive Elijah Mwandoe (Wiper) and Dr Harun Mwadali, who is yet to declare his preferred party.

Ms Lay’s recent defection from ODM to Jubilee Party has raised political temperatures among her colleagues, prompting Ms Kina to decamp to Kanu.

Ms Lay was prevailed upon by the ruling party’s stalwarts to decamp from ODM in a scheme to weaken the opposition's clout in the region.

Fearing that the Jubilee Party’s primaries would not be free and fair following Ms Lay entry into the fray, Ms Kina says she also decided to jump ship.

“I was approached by top Jubilee leaders who asked me to drop out of the race and support Ms Lay because she is a brand,” she says.

LAY'S ACHIEVEMENTS
The aspirant adds she had already seen signs of being short-changed because ‘some people thought she was not fit to run for the seat on a Jubilee ticket’.

“I could not step down for somebody else. If am not given a chance to contest now when will I be like the ones they term as brands?” she questioned.

She however feels that she has not betrayed her former party chiefs - who lobbied for her to be given a State job - by leaving the party.

Ms Kina says she has participated in various development projects, which she hopes would endear her to the electorates.

They include the construction of the Lumi Irrigation Scheme as well as four other water pans in Wundanyi, Voi, Mwatate and Taveta sub-counties. She has also helped drill a borehole at Taita Taveta University.

“Some of these projects are ongoing. We have also secured heavy machinery for making our own roads and water pans,” she said, while promising to do more once elected.

Ms Lay, on the other hand, says her record as a Woman Rep will convince voters to elect her.

She is known to be passionate and vocal in Parliament on issues affecting women and children.

Among the Bills she has initiated are the Domestic Workers Bill and the Basic Education Amendment Bill on 8-4-4. 

She has also been at the forefront in pushing for the In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF) Bill in Parliament. The Bill was championed by Mbita MP Millie Odhiambo.

The Bill is meant to regulate the IVF process in Kenya and also to make sure that women and men who suffer from infertility problems are given the opportunity to get the assistance from government hospitals at an affordable cost.  

Her push for government’s involvement in infertility issues saw her being appointed by Merck Company as an ambassador for a campaign aimed at assisting women suffering from infertility issues in Africa.

Ms Lay has also contributed towards the amendments to the Mining Bill, which was also passed by the August house.  

STATE GOODIES
So far 150 women have benefited from the programme and are expected to receive funds from the company to help them start projects of their choice.

She has also sponsored a motion of having all the laws of Kenya translated into Kiswahili. 

The motion received overwhelming support from the National Assembly and ordinary Kenyans. 

The Kenya National Council for Law has already secured a budget to start the process of translating 20 laws into Kiswahili. 

Ms Lay has introduced an amendment to the Fertilizer Bill, which was successfully supported and passed by both the National Assembly and the Senate.

As a result, governors can now appoint members from the counties to sit in the fertiliser boards.

Speaking in Voi recently, she defended her move to Jubilee saying the county and Coast region at large has been locked out of getting projects from the national government because of its support for the opposition.

“I joined Jubilee because I wanted to push our agenda to the government easily,” she said.

This has however put her at loggerheads with ODM leaders in the county who have accused her of decamping to Jubilee ‘for her own selfish reasons’.

“We want to bring a revolution in this county. We have been left behind for so long,” she says while defending her decision to quit the Orange party.

A fierce battle is however expected to be seen between Ms Lay, Ms Kina and Mr Mwaruma.

Having taught in various secondary schools in Taita Taveta County, Mwaruma has gained popularity among his students, parents and fellow teachers.

He has also initiated various education programs meant at ensuring many students access secondary and higher education.

Mwaruma has also been running community-based programmes meant to help residents access medical attention especially those from poor families.

As an educator, he has pledged to push for more funds to support education programmes in the counties once elected.