Machakos Governor Alfred Mutua has dealt a tough blow to Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka's political might in the Ukambani region after his Maendeleo Chap Chap (MCC) candidate trounced Kalonzo's choice candidate in a tightly contested by-election.
The search for a ward representative for Mutonguni Ward favored Musee Mati (MCC) who garnered 2,892 votes to beat Stephen Kithuka of Wiper (2,147).
This victory goes a long way to display the changing political tides in the region where Kalonzo has been perceived to be holding sway for a long time.
Taking to Twitter on Thursday, October 18, Mutua moved to announce that his candidate had trounced Kithuka in many of the polling stations in the ward.
"According to our Maendeleo Chap Chap Party tallying centre that is collating actual results announced in all polling stations, Mati has WON the Mutonguni Ward by-election with 2883 votes, defeating Wiper’s Kithuka who got 2156 votes," he wrote.
After the official results had been announced, Mutua stated that the victory was emblematic of the changing tides in the Ukambani region's political forays, and the country's in general.
"I congratulate Maendeleo Chap Chap Party’s Hon Mati for his victory. This was not a contest between candidates but the beginning of a new revolution to usher in development based leadership not only in the Ukambani region but Kenya as a whole," he wrote.
Mutua, on the Point Blank show with Toni Gachoka on KTN News on October 2, had demanded that the Wiper Party leader Kalonzo quit politics "for the sake of economic growth in Ukambani".
He had claimed that Kalonzo's years in power had yielded nothing of benefit to the people of the region, a matter that he insisted was enough for the voters in the region to keep him off the top seat.
“We must understand that Kalonzo has not given much to our people. You cannot lead a community whose people continue to get poorer. This is a new era where people want to see development,” Mutua was quoted.
