Second chance: 8 former Governors floor rivals to reclaim seats

Eight former Governors who lost their seats on the ballot in the 2017 General Election have regained their positions in the just-concluded August 9 General Election.

They include Kenneth Lusaka (Bungoma), Benjamin Cheboi (Baringo), Joshua Irungu (Laikipia), Nadhif Jama (Garissa), Simon Kachapin (West Pokot), Issa Timamy (Lamu), Julius Malombe (Kitui) and Ahmed Abdullahi (Wajir).

In 2017, Lusaka, who is the immediate former Senate Speaker, lost to Wycliffe Wangamati in Bungoma County's gubernatorial race after garnering 175,929 votes while the latter got 197,422 votes. At this year's polls, however, Lusaka made a comeback after securing 244,298 votes to unseat Wangamati who got 140,298 votes.  

Despite taking a backseat from politics following their 2017 losses to Ndiritu Murithi and Stanley Kiptis respectively, Cheboi and Irungu have likewise made a comeback to regional politics.

Cheboi floored his successor at this year's polls after garnering 137,486 votes compared to Kiptis' 17, 646 votes. Irungu, on the other hand, unseated the incumbent one-term governor Muriithi after managing 114,094 votes. In contrast, Muriithi got 49,291 votes at the ballot.

In Garissa, Jama regained his seat after getting 69,342 votes to record an overwhelming win over outgoing governor Ali Korane who amassed 26,148 votes. 

In West Pokot, UDA candidate Kachapin was declared the winner of the gubernatorial contest after bagging 86,476 votes to unseat incumbent governor John Lonyangapuo who came in second with 84,610 votes.

ANC candidate Timamy likewise beat incumbent Lamu Governor Fahim Twaha after racking up 24,198 votes against the Jubilee candidate's 16,054 votes in the race that attracted four candidates.

Wiper candidate Malombe similarly made a comeback to Kitui politics after getting 198,004 votes to edge out his main rival former Kitui Senator David Musila who secured 117,606 votes.

Incumbent Kitui Governor Charity Ngilu's name was not on the ballot as she opted to drop out of the race to drum up support for Azimio presidential candidate Raila Odinga who has promised her a national position should he win the presidential contest.

Abdullahi also regained Wajir County's corner office at the August 9 polls, which he lost to Jubilee's Abdi Mohamud in 2017.

The Wajir-governor elect got 35,533 votes to beat Jubilee's Hassan Mohammed Adan who got 27,224 votes and former Deputy governor Ahmed Ali Mukhtar who amassed 21,859.

Mukhtar briefly served as Wajir's governor following the impeachment of Mohamed Abdi.

The newly-elected governors' victories have further been augmented by the fact that most, if not all of their rivals, have already publicly conceded defeat.