Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar has opened a centre for ideas from the youth. Opening the Renaissance Centre on Saturday, Omar termed it “an ideological greenhouse”. The youth make up about 70 per cent of the 400,000 eligible voters in the county. The senator will run for governor.
Omar said it is difficult for youth to engage in politics for lack of funds. He said young people have great ideas and a passion for society but cannot execute them. This is because political parties’ patrons have created the notion that politics is about their ideas and not those of the youth, Omar said.
“We cannot continue to play the conventional politics and define politics simply on account of money,” he said. “The county is rotting. Everything is in a shambles. So you cannot just continue taking so many pictures on a national platform and expect that will be the SI unit for us to elect you into office. I want to create a space in Mombasa county where outside resources, one’s ideas can be the selling point in the politics of this county.”
Omar said the Renaissance Centre will help to counter the perception that coastal people are unlearned and lack ideas. “We have created this perception that we are incapable of learning,” he said. The Renaissance Centre has been decorated with graffiti and murals of great minds, including Nelson Mandela and Professor Ali Mazrui, to trigger youth to challenge the status quo, Omar said.
But county director of communication Richard Chacha said Omar’s attacks on the county government are a desperate attempt to become relevant. “He wants to cut a niche for himself by making us look bad,” he told the press on Saturday. Chacha said despite the challenges Mombasa faces, Joho has made significant development in health, education and roads.
Omar said, “People capture the state to steal. We want to capture political power for utility to the benefit of the people. We want youthful energy that can come here and imagine what Mombasa county can be like, then work hard to achieve it.” This, he said, is a major shift and a departure from the norm.
