Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho on Saturday renewed his rivalry with the national government with a scathing attack on Jubilee.
Buoyed by the presence of Cord leader Raila Odinga, Joho said the Jubilee government is hell bent on frustrating the Mombasa county government through allocation of meagre resources.
“They say they will teach us a lesson, but we will teach them a lesson first,” said Joho.
The county boss spoke at the Mombasa ASK Showground during the Governor's Award Program.
At the event, Joho issued bursaries worth Sh105 million to 14,000 students from the county.
Joho fell out with President Uhuru Kenyatta in December 2015.
At that time, the governor raised concerns that the President stayed in Mombasa for two weeks without meeting him as the host governor.
The feud continued for weeks when the national government started harassing Joho, leading to closure of his family's two businesses.
Joho said the Jubilee government has systematically denied the county resources.
He said what the region gets was not enough to pay wages for devolved functions staff.
“Our county has been trudged on. But we will manage through the little that we have,”
the governor said.
He said despite being among the top most contributors to the national economy, the county has been neglected.
“The Mombasa port does not benefit the county in any way. All the revenue goes to the national government. This is a deliberate plan to prevent our growth,” said Joho.
He noted that despite being the gateway to Kenya, Mombasa was allocated a paltry Sh3.8 billion in 2013/2014, Sh4.2 billion in 2014/2015, and Sh4.5 billion in 2015/2016.
In comparison, he said in 2015/2016, Nairobi county was allocated Sh14 billion, Kilifi Sh8.7 billion and Turkana Sh12 billion.
He asked Mombasa and Coast residents to vote for Raila for presidency in 2017 to avoid such discrimination.
He accused the Jubilee government of trying to compete with his county administration instead of complementing it.
“Jubilee has been clinging onto function. When you devolve a function, you have to release resources too to ensure that function is well done.
Joho criticized President Uhuru saying he sold the controversial Waitiki land to squatters in Mombasa yet other squatters across the country get land for free.
“Mombasa is the only county where squatters have to buy land. In other areas, they are given for free,” Joho said.