• MPs said it is time Coast leaders started coming up with legislation govern ferry operations.
• Clerics demand lifting of curfew.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir and Mombasa woman representative Asha Hussein have called for legislation governing Likoni Ferry operations to avoid crises and disasters.
At least 50 people were injured at the ferry crossing on Friday evening after the crowd, anxious to beat the government-imposed 7pm curfew, broke the lines and surged forward. They caught security personnel manning the queues by surprise.
In response, the GSU, Coast Guard and Mombasa Inspectorate fired teargas as the surging crowd, beating and kicking them. Then they made them lie down in the mud.
The security forces' actions were condemned by leaders as well as the people.
On Saturday, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir said the curfew for Likoni residents should start at 8.30pm.
“No one crosses the Likoni channel for fun. They are all looking for their daily bread,” he said in his office on Saturday.
He said majority of the Likoni residents who use the ferry live from hand to mouth and that is why they have to cross the channel to go work in the CBD.
“Should there be a situation where movement is restricted as in the case of a lockdown, we need to have the legislative framework to allow the NG-CDF to be used to buy food for the people,” Nassir said.
His sentiment come amid warnings from Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and Coast regional coordinator John Elungata that a complete lockdown of Mombasa is not out of the question should the situation necessitate it.
Hussein said she will raise the issue in Parliament once they are recalled for special sittings about the coronavirus crisis.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
“The ferry is a unique and vital installation that provides essential services. Right now, if anything happens at the ferry there are no direct legal interventions that will be applied to intervene,” Hussein said.
She spoke separately at her office.
The two MPs said it is time Coast leaders started thinking of egislation to exclusively govern the operations of the ferries, not directives.
This came as religious leaders called for the suspension of the curfew in Mombasa.
Kenya Muslim National Advisory Council chairman Sheikh Juma Ngao and Jesus Celebration Centre Bamburi leader Kenneth Muthoka said ferry users were Friday night exposed more to the virus than they would usually be.
“If the government allows atrocities to be meted on innocent Likoni residents, then this curfew is not necessary and should be lifted,” Sheikh Ngao said.
However, Devolution CAS Hussein Dado, who is in charge of the Coast region during the curfew, said there is no chance of it being lifted anytime soon.
“The curfew is there to stay and will be implemented strictly,” he said at the Likoni Crossing Channel hours after the religious leaders spoke.
The two religious leaders said the GSU should not be allowed to control the crowds at the ferry.
“Deploy the regular police instead,” Sheikh Ngao said.
They called for the arrest of the GSU officers caught on video assaulting NTV cameraman Peter Wainaina and the leader of the unit that was deployed at the ferry.
Mombasa nominated MCA Milka Moraa said assault on any journalist is an affront to the people of Kenya because the public depends on the media for information.
“The media helps keep the government in check and the excesses that police officers do not want covered are the same excess that hurt Kenyans,” Moraa said.
The MCA and Hussein said it is also time for the government and other leaders to go back to the drawing board and come up with another working strategy to solve challenges that involve huge crowds.
On average, about 300,000 people and 6,000 vehicles cross the Likoni Channel daily.
Joho said fresh produce traders will get tax exemptions in a special arrangement that will see them take produce directly to Likoni, where a satellite market will be opened.
The temporary satellite market will be the second in Mombasa after the Tononoka temporary satellite market.
Joho said this will reduce the need for Likoni residents to cross to the Island side in search of food.
Elungata said should need be, they might bar people from crossing the Likoni channel.
(EDited by V. Graham)