Kingi declares war on Joho – Weekly Citizen

Kilifi governor Amason Kingi is seeking to outshine his Mombasa counterpart Hassan Joho as the Coast political kingpin ahead of the next general elections.

Kingi who is thought to be allied to William Ruto has begun to chart his own political direction away from Joho’s wings as evidenced by his surprise move to call for a meeting this week of all MPs and MCAs from the Coast region without Joho’s input to supposedly discuss about the dwindling business fortunes at the port of Mombasa as result of the standard gauge railway.

However, it remains to be seen how many Coast MPs and MCAs will honour Kingi invite with emerging reports that Joho camp has told the politicians who are allied to him to skip the meeting.

The fact that among the agenda is to discuss the port of Mombasa which falls under the county of Mombasa has raised political eyebrows. Joho has been accused by Nyali MP Mohamed Ali of entering into multibillion shillings contracts to benefit from the SGR while thousands of Mombasa residents have lost livelihoods as a result of loss of business.

The new move also comes at a time when the Kilifi governor has engaged Joho in a cat and mouse game regarding the Ganda ward by-election in Malindi constituency, Kilifi county.

Kingi has avoided the by-election campaigns putting Joho in an awkward position because the Mombasa governor cannot on his own make any serious impact in the campaign with Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa constantly portraying him as a descendant of Arabs who subjected Mijikenda to slave trade and grabbed of their Coastal lands.

Joho

Joho’s political fate was increasingly being undermined by sentiments of a group of Mijikenda members of parliament who insist they do not recognise him as the region’s spokesperson. Kaloleni MP Paul Katana has been more vocal on this front, saying there is no way a Swahili who make a tiny fraction of Coast votes should be the leader of Coast.

The meeting by Kingi, comes a few weeks after Uhuru Kenyatta met Coast governors and some elected leaders from the region to try allay fears that his government was weakening the economy of the region by moving business to Nairobi with transporters and allied businesses the worst hit.

Recently, Kingi’s ally in Kilifi politics Jumwa said there are plans underfoot to join a regional political party to accommodate local interests, accusing ODM and Jubilee parties of using and dumping Coast leaders.

She said she plans to join Umoja Summit Party of Kenya together with several Coast leaders in the next general elections. Kingi has previously said he is working on a party that would bring together the region.