Former Mombasa gubernatorial aspirant Suleiman Shahbal has officially resigned from the Jubilee Party.
Shahbal contested for the county’s top post in the 2017 general elections under the Jubilee ticket, where he lost to the incumbent Governor Ali Hassan Joho.
Joho garnered 221,363 votes, beating Shahbal to second place with 69,429 votes.
In a letter dated July 6, the Mombasa prominent businessman informed Jubilee secretary general Raphael Tuju that he was exercising his constitutional rights and quitting the ruling party.
“In exercise of my Constitution and legal rights to belong to a political party of my choice and guided by the law through Section 14 of the Political Parties Acts, 2011, I wish to resign as a member of Jubilee Party,” the letter reads.
Through his Twitter account, Suleiman said that he is now joining the opposition party ODM.
His move to the ODM party ahead of the 2022 general elections is expected to intensify Mombasa politics as Joho’s term comes to an end.
In a previous phone conversation with The Star, Shahbal said the Jubilee campaigns were marred with inhouse problems that made it difficult to succeed.
“The 2017 election was very problematic within Jubilee because there were two parallel campaigns being run at the same time,” he said.
Shahbal’s running mate in 2017 Ananiah Mwaboza had also expressed his interest in the gubernatorial seat under Jubilee but Deputy President William Ruto intervened.
