The Jubilee Party has appointed Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala to lead presidential campaigns at the coast ahead of the October 17 elections.
Mr Balala was selected by Deputy President William Ruto on Friday during a meeting with the party delegates from the six coastal counties held at Wild Waters Centre in Mombasa.
The decision was made after a section of the delegates booed Suleiman Shahbal, who lost in the Mombasa gubernatorial race when he stood to address them forcing him to cut short his speech.
The hostility against Shahbal continued even after Balala intervened asking the members to embrace forgiveness since they were all campaigning for President Uhuru Kenyatta.
“We had challenges here in Mombasa and I heard that the problem was with our agents which was caused by those who were leading you in the August elections and now we have resolved that Mr Balala here will be in charge and will coordinate the campaigns with the other leaders,” DP Ruto stated.
“This time around we do not want people from Nairobi to come plan for you anything. We do not want people to be bossy. You are now going to appoint your own agents at the grassroots level,” he added.
Ruto noted that during the August 8 General Election, some polling stations did not have Jubilee agents as a result of the differences among the leaders.
Moments before the arrival of the DP, there were clashes between supporters of Balala and Shahbal with the CS’s side claiming that Shahbal had failed to deliver the Coastal vote to Jubilee thus he did not deserve to lead the team.
