Several aspirants are warming up for the Garissa Township MP seat after the naming of current legislator Aden Duale as Defence Cabinet Secretary by President William Ruto.
Duale, who is awaiting vetting by the Parliament together with other CS nominees, will have to resign from the seat before taking up the Defense docket as required by law.
Among those who have shown interest are Abdi Nasir Dolal commonly known as Jofle who came second in the August 9 elections with 5,972 votes and Abdullahi Gabane who garnered 5,229 votes.
Others likely to be in the race are former Iftin ward MCA Mohamed Gabow and Woman Rep contestant Mulki Warsame.
Former Garissa governor candidate Mohamed Barrow is also said to be eying the seat through a UDA ticket.
Duale, who has contested and won the seat since 2007 has been a strong candidate to beat, and now, with his exit various candidates will flex their muscles to try their luck.
According to political pundits in Garissa, Duale had become impossible to dethrone and his exit is likely to change the dynamics of Township politics.
“It was almost becoming impossible for candidates to dethrone Duale from the seat because he kept on growing strong as years went by,” said Abdi Ali, a political analyst.
“In the northeast, clans play a major factor in elections. However the fact that Duale managed to win the seat despite his Abduwak clan fielding several candidates clearly shows that he had the support from all the clans that reside in Garissa,” he added.
The former National Assembly Majority Leader who had risen over the years to become the ‘de-facto leader of Northeastern politics’ was among the only three MPs in Northeastern who managed to overcome a strong Azimio wave in the region where the majority of the candidates won through the coalition.
Speaking to KNA via phone, Jofle who has contested for the seat three times coming second to Duale in all the elections said that he will be fully in the race once IEBC declares the seat vacant.
“I am the most experienced politician among those who will be contesting. I have been in this game since 2013 and understand Garissa Township very well. This is where I was born and bred,” Jofle said.
Speaking to the press at his office, Garissa SUPKEM chairman Abdullahi Salat while thanking the president for nominating Duale in his cabinet said that as leaders they will sit down and front a leader who will take over from Duale.
Salat who was flanked by the Garissa branch secretary general Hassab Abdi urged the electorate to rise above local clan politics when time finally comes for them to choose their MP.
“Duale has been and remains our leader as Muslims. We are very proud of him and we know that he will deliver. He has done a lot in terms of developing this constituency; from education, infrastructure, electricity connectivity, fighting for Muslim rights and helping in building Islamic institutions among many things,” Salat said.
“We want to have a leader who can match his development record or be better. A person who will be a unifying factor considering that Garissa Township is a cosmopolitan constituency,” he added.
