COMMENTARIES

Kenya: Coast MPs Had Better be Serious

by Njuguna Mutonya
DAILY NATION
NairobiJune 7, 2008

The Coast Province hatchet has been buried once again, or so the local legislators would like Kenyans to believe.Every beginning of a parliamentary term since the advent of political pluralism in the early 1990s, Coast politicians declare their independence from the rest of the country to make some nice-sounding declarations about how they wish to change the region's politics and boost its economy.The declaration is made at a caucus known as the Coast Parliamentary Group with nice sound bites, especially by Parliament green-horns. Forgive my scepticism, but we have heard all this drivel before. The CPG is always revived after the formation of the Cabinet, and its main proponents are politicians who have lost out in the apportionment of positions at the national level.

So it is not surprising that the same enthusiasm was being displayed at a recent convocation of front and backbenchers at a Mombasa South Coast resort to make their new declarations. This time around they were not so original. The rigmaroles they told sounded the same as those told by probably the most committed MP to ever come from the region in the past two decades - Mr Jembe Mwakalu of Bahari constituency in 1992. Mr Mwakalu has since died.To silence him, President Moi would do what every employer does with troublesome union activists - catapult them into management. While they are pertinent, the issues the leaders raise are not permanent.

Coast residents must start demanding performance results from them. This is why. While successive MPs keep complaining about what the rest of the country owes Coast province, their colleagues from other areas tackle local issues.

For example, Kinango residents must ask Mr Gonzi Rai what he has done to help resolve the livestock marketing problems affecting his people because he is not a first-timer in Parliament.

Mr Fahim Twaha must tell the Lamu West people why they cannot get fair prices for their cotton, while Mr Abu Chiaba, who was once a Fisheries assistant minister, must explain why the fishermen of Faza, Kiwayuu, Pate and Lamu Kisiwani cannot have cold storage facilities.

Transport minister Ali Mwakwere's Matuga constituency is one of the most fertile in the province, yet food shortage and poor land use are rampant. Cashew nut trees are dying in the fields because the factory has been looted.

In Mvita, Tourism minister Najib Balala needs to give an update of the results of his efforts to rid the Majengo slums of drug dens which, it is believed, operate in collusion with some government agents.

Mr Ramadhan Kajembe has to explain why the Magongo-Jomvu road, which is lined by some of the largest industrial parks in Mombasa, is impassable almost 20 years since he first became an MP.

Will Dr Naomi Shabaan - a second-termer - face her Cabinet colleagues and ask them to share their vast chunks of land with her Taveta people instead of permanently chasing a greying and hapless Greek Kenyan?The list of new officials at the South Coast forum shows that it was an attempt to appease politicians who did not catch the grand coalition architects' eyes in the Cabinet crafting.It is what the hapless Ukambani duo of Mr Charles Kilonzo and Mr Kiema Kilonzo are engaged in, and it might also be behind the clamour, majorly in Rift Valley and Western provinces, for a grand opposition.

It reminds one of a great lecture presented at the University of Nairobi's Taifa Hall in 1981 by the "Seven Bearded Sisters" - MPs James Orengo, Lawrence Sifuna, Abuya Abuya, Koigi wa Wamwere, Chibule wa Tsuma, Mashengu wa Mwachofi and Chelagat Mutai. The seven legislators alone kept a whole state machinery on its toes by fighting for the people within a one-party system.

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The Moi Succession
DAILY NATION
By PATRICK MAYOYO
Monday, March 18, 2002

Coast vote split as the leaders disagree


Expectations that Coast Province delegates will vote as a block during the Kanu-NDP merger conference today have suffered a setback following differences among them. The delegates are split over the choice of the officials to go for seven posts the region wants to gun for. A meeting called to elect the candidates at the Mombasa City Hall on Friday was marred with discontent amid allegations of rigging.

Lamu Kanu branch chairman Tahir Sheikh Said (TSS) stormed out of the meeting, claiming the elections were rigged, after he lost to nominated MP Rashid Sajjad the battle for the Coast Kanu provincial trustee.
Mr Said claimed that he had won a poll that the returning officer, Mr Mohammed Zubedi (a legislator with the East African Community), overturned and called for a repeat after the number of votes cast surpassed the number of voters.

"I was forced to call for a repeat because the votes cast were 33 when the people who participated were only 29," Mr Zubedi said. Mr Said pledged that Lamu delegates would vote for Uhuru Kenyatta during the Kanu-NDP delegates conference. The meeting endorsed Mr Katana Ngala for the post of vice-chairman, MPs Mohammed Galgalo and Simon Mkalla as Coast representatives in the Kanu National Executive Council.
Mvita MP Shariff Nassir was endorsed to contest the deputy organising secretary's seat; Lamu West MP Fahim Twaha for Secretary of Economic Affairs, and Councillor Salim Bajaber for the post of secretary for youth affairs.

Msambweni MP Marere Wamwachai will contest the post women's leader while Councillor Margaret Olang was proposed to contest the post of Secretary for Gender Affairs.
However, after the meeting, even the chairman, Mr Mohammed Zubedi, could not give a full list of who the delegates will support.

Mr Zubedi was clear on two issues: "The delegates resolved to support NDP leader Raila Odinga for secretary-general and Mr Ngala for vice-chairman". The differences among Coast delegates emanated from the February 24 meeting which was attended by Mr Ngala, Mr Nassir, Wundanyi MP Darius Mbela, Changamwe MP Ramadhan Kajembe and Kanu Chief Whip Simeon Mkala and Mr Hashim, at which the names of Mr Ngala, Mr Nassir and Mr Twaha were proposed for Kanu national posts.

Those MPs who did not attend – Foreign Affairs Minister Marsden Madoka, Magarini MP David Kombe, Matuga MP Suleman Kamole, Msambweni MP Marere Wamwachai, Bahari MP Jembe Mwakalu, Malindi MP Abubakar Badawy, Galole MP Tola Kofa, Bura MP Mohammed Galgalo and Garsen MP Molu Shambaro – are said to have come up with their own line-up of proposals.

When President Moi visited Mombasa on Thursday to open the Tsavo Power Plant, he summoned key Coast leaders to the State House and directed them work as a team. A Kanu official said that "it was at this meeting that Mr Zubedi was directed to bring together the feuding groups and ensure that Coast delegates vote as a team".

However, the differences are still simmering. Even after the Friday meeting, MPs and delegates from different districts are said to have their own plans for tomorrow's conference.
One Kanu official said that "some MPs are busy mobilising delegates for candidates of their choice although we had agreed that Coast delegates should vote as a block." No MP or delegate from the Coast has openly declared support for Vice-President George Saitoti but Kanu insiders say the mathematics professor has a sizable following at the Coast.
A civic leader said that "the campaign is going on quietly and do not be surprised when you hear that Prof Saitoti got quite a number of votes from Coast."

However, a number of MPs are openly supporting and campaigning for Mr Kenyatta.
Mr Kombe and Mr Hashim said delegates from Malindi and Lamu would vote for Mr Kenyatta, Mr Katana Ngala and Mr Raila Odinga.