A section of political leaders drawn from the Coastal Region allied to Deputy President William Ruto have blasted Mombasa Governor for his comments regarding Ruto.
In a joint statement on Sunday, the hustler nation said that the region has been ‘the most disastrous and catastrophic’ for more than a decade under ODM.
“ODM sunk a region struggling to emerge from the yoke of marginalisation into the abyss of mediocrity, bad governance and poor leadership largely witnessed by the election of the types of Hassan Joho,” part of the statement read.
They have criticised governor Hassan Joho’s leadership style, saying that his dominance in the region is coming to an end following the concluded Msambweni by-elections.
“… the rise of the hustler power in the Coast Region signaled and evidenced by the hustler’s victory in the just-concluded Msambweni by-elections and the winds of change sweeping across the region and indeed Kenya.”
Earlier on Sunday, Joho slammed the plans orchestrated by Ruto allies to form a political party that will unite the coastal area.
Joho had said that the move is meant to cause division in the region, which he claimed has been solid for years under ODM.
The governor had also blamed the DP for being the sponsor of the push to form a political party to counteract ODM.
But the DP allies in the statement said that since the handshake between President Uhuru Kenyatta and ODM leader Raila Odinga, Joho tried with no success to invite or frame a contest between himself the DP.
They have vowed to continue pushing for a change of political dominance in the region, adding that the Msambweni conquest was just the beginning.
“Never again shall we allow the ODM charade of hallucination to Canaan and the vitendawilis that are the only policies we remember of its leader, reign over the soul of our politics and our future.”
Also, the group has defended Ruto’s frequent tour to the region, saying that it has led to a myriad of development programmes launched by him during Jubilee’s first term in office.
The hustler nation has claimed that the Jubilee’s second term in office has been more of a handshake, which has scuttled the development agenda at the altar of the BBI.
“What Joho is seeing is coming to fruition of projects largely launched during Jubilee’s first term by the Deputy President William Ruto. A genuine class experience would have assisted Joho to appreciate such simple and naked facts.”
They added that the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) is not a solution to the region’s or Kenya’s ensuing challenges.
The team has also claimed that Joho “in cahoots presided over the destruction and demise of the Coast economy through the shift of Port and Maritime logistics to Nairobi and Naivasha.”
The joint statement was signed by Mohamed Ali (Nyali), Aisha Jumwa (Malindi), Khatib Mwashetani (Lunga Lunga), Benjamin Tayari (Kinango), Owen Baya (Kilifi North), Paul Katana (Kaloleni), Ali Wario (Bura), Shariff Athman ( Lamu East), and Feisal Bader (Msambweni).
Others are Haika Mizighi (Women Rep, Taita Taveta), Rehema Hassan (Women Rep, Tana River), and Hassan Omar, Former Senator, Mombasa.