What does it take for someone to win the Mombasa governor election?

In my assessment, there are three important things that one needs to have, to win the Mombasa governor election.

One obviously needs to have excellent political organizational skills, to win the Mombasa governor election. Mombasa is a big city (1.2 million plus people) spread over 6 constituencies with hundreds – if not thousands – of ethnically diverse neighborhoods between them. Running a campaign that can reach all parts of Changamwe, all parts of Jomvu, all parts of Mvita, all parts of Kisauni, all parts of Nyali and all parts of Likoni is a tall order. It requires very good organizational skills, with an excellent team behind the aspirant.

One also needs to have a bit of money, to win the Mombasa governor election. You could say that you won’t buy votes/bribe voters. But you still need to buy campaign materials to reach the entire city. And you still have to mobilize campaign meetings in all parts of Mombasa, and though you may have volunteers helping you with such things, they nonetheless have to be given stipends. Plus once you declare yourself to be a Mombasa gubernatorial election aspirant, people are likely to start coming to you will a huge variety of problems, and you have to help some of the cases, otherwise you will lose credibility completely.

At another level, one needs to be an established ‘brand’ to win the Mombasa governor election. I mean, it is difficult, if not impossible, for someone to just come out of nowhere and win the Mombasa governor election. That is because Mombasa is a city where ‘being known’ matters a lot, and the challenge for anyone trying to become Mombasa governor (or to win any other political position in Mombasa for that matter) is in how to make yourself 'known' in a good way.