Jubilee Mombasa party office up for sale – Weekly Citizen

The building hosting Jubilee party offices in Mombasa is up for sale by owners in a controversial move being interpreted in political terms.
The office was being catered for by the region’s party coordinator Farid Swaleh was the epicentre of party coordination campaign activities in the last general elections.
After the elections, Farid decided to retain the office on behalf of the party, arguing that it would be illogical for a ruling party to be without offices in a critical area such as Mombasa.
The other Jubilee party office that existed briefly in Nyali closed down due to problems of rent.

Farid Swaleh during a past press briefing

It has emerged, the abrupt move by owners to want to sell the building housing Jubilee party at Tudor area has caught officials by surprise. There are claims that some individuals out to wipe out Jubilee influence in the port city are behind the move to destabilise the party in the opposition stronghold.
It is being interpreted by local Jubilee officials that the timing is meant to scatter the party support ahead of the expected referendum campaigns. In the last elections, Jubilee garnered over 100,000 presidential votes in Mombasa county.
“We read malice and political scheming in the whole matter because the selling of the building was being done behind the coordinator’s back yet he had agreed with owners that they should alert him in advance in case of such a move,” said Joseph Njoroge.
Inspite of the advent of handshake that calmed political temperatures, ordinary Jubilee supporters in Mombasa are still not comfortable with ODM party leadership in the area and vice versa. It would be a herculean task for instance if Uhuru Kenyatta were to order that they join hands with their opposition counterparts in a campaign exercise.
The strong Jubilee presence in Mombasa courtesy of Farid is being seen in some quarters as an alternative centre of power to that of ODM party leadership, something that has not been received well by some power brokers from both Jubilee and opposition.
During the Ramadhan period for instance, it is Farid who was at the forefront in distributing dates and other foodstuffs on behalf of Uhuru to Muslims while the local opposition leadership chose to be away abroad. Last week, Farid maintained that he would not surrender the party office unless and until Uhuru tells him that he no longer needs its existence.
“This office will continue to exist until our party leader tells me otherwise. If its being sold, then i am ready to sell my personal property to buy it for the sake of the party”, Farid pointed out, adding that he has come along way with the President since the time of TNA and will not allow his support base to messed up.