Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho has in the past four years become a permanent fixture in national politics.
His open criticism of the Jubilee administration and public attacks on President Uhuru Kenyatta have won him admirers and rivals in equal measure.
Interestingly, Joho’career in politics can be credited to a least-expected quarter - Othaya MP Mary Wambui who is currently serving on a Jubilee party ticket.
When Joho first run for a political seat, it was Ms Wambui who used her influence to get him the NARC ticket (under LDP) during the 2004 by-election in Kisauni.
At the time, Ms Wambui was popularly referred to as a NARC activist and had close links to powerful figures in the country.
Joho would go on to run one of the most flamboyant campaigns, but unfortunately for him, a majority of the Mombasa politicians were opposed to his candidature and in the end, it was lawyer Ananiah Mwaboza of the little-known Labour party who went on to win the seat.
Despite the loss, Joho went on to improve his presence on the ground, often attending fundraisers in the company of Ms Wambui who was said to be a business associate to his brother Abubakar.
The relationship between the Joho brothers and Ms Wambui would later surface at the height of the Armenian brothers (Artur Margaryan and Artur Sargasyan) controversy.
On July 19 2006, the Daily Nation reported that Chelamed (K) Ltd, a company owned and managed by the Joho brothers, had been linked to issuance of security passed to the Arturs and their associates.
The notorious brothers were linked to the current Othaya MP but in 2013, she stated that her knowledge of the Arturs was only because they were friends with her daughter, “I know of the two Armenian brothers because they are good friends with my daughter,” Wambui told the Nyeri High Court.
In 2007, Joho would campaign for the second time on an ODM ticket and this time emerged the Kisauni MP, going on to become an Assistant Minister for Transport and eventually becoming the first Governor of Mombasa in 2013.
Interestingly, even as he campaigned on an ODM ticket, he would occasionally make public appearances with the current Othaya MP who, at the time, was a key campaigner for then President Mwai Kibaki.
