• Two weeks before Old Town was placed on partial lockdown, five people evaded quarantine after they tested positive for Covid-19.
• But MP Ali said county has failed to provide a lasting solution for the Old Town residents and instead subjected the residents to unnecessary suffering.
Image: JOHN CHESOLI
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and Nyali MP Mohammed Ali have clashed again after the MP criticised Joho over the treatment of Old Town residents.
Joho on Thursday pointed an accusing finger at the Old Town residents for the spread of the coronavirus in Likoni and Changamwe, which are slowly becoming the new hotspots.
However, Ali on Friday said the county has failed to provide a lasting solution for the Old Town residents and instead subjected the residents to unnecessary suffering.
This is after tens of residents escaped from Old Town immediately after President Uhuru Kenyatta announced a partial lockdown of the area on May 6.
Two weeks earlier, five people from the area also evaded quarantine after they tested positive for Covid-19.
Speaking in his office while receiving a Sh10 million donation towards the Covid-19 fight from Diamond Trust Bank, Joho labelled Old Town as the most uncooperative lot.
“When Old Town was being put under cessation, there are people who thought they were smart to move out before the lockdown was implemented. That is why you see a surge in cases in other areas,” Joho said.
On Friday, Ali said keeping Old Town residents under lockdown without giving a sincere count of those infected with Covid-19 is violating their rights.
He said the numbers provided by the county and the national government are insincere.
“The way things are going, it is like Old Town residents are being oppressed with no one to speak for them. Well, now they have a voice and I will speak for them,” the MP said in an apparent jab at political leaders in Mvita subcounty.
Joho and Ali’s rivalry is shaping into a mirror image of the rivalry between their political godfathers Opposition chief Raila Odinga and Deputy President William Ruto at the national level.
Like Raila and Ruto, Joho and Ali were at friends, both working together in ODM before they fell out.
Ruto fell out with Raila over the Mau evictions in Rift Valley while Ali fell out with Joho after he felt the governor rigged him out of the ODM nominations in favour of Abdalla in the run-up to the 2017 general elections. Ali held that Joho was technically pushing him out of the party in favour of his cousin Said Abdalla.
Both Ali and Abdalla were eying the Nyali MP seat then.
The two Mombasa politicians have no love lost between them with the MP now questioning the decisions and desires of the governor.
Joho has widely been praised for his efforts towards the fight against Covid-19 but on Thursday, he revealed his frustrations saying there are people out to sabotage all the efforts.
He said the county has done everything possible and met all demands by Old Town residents "but still, his efforts are undermined".
“We have provided you with free mass testing, free medication at quarantine, free food but you still don’t want to be tested,” Joho said.
On Saturday, Haki Yetu executive director Fr Gabriel Dolan said blame games will not help in the fight against the coronavirus.
Fr Dolan said instead, it will only spread stigma, fear and ignorance.
“As a result, folks are less likely to voluntarily get tested. Try persuasion, respect and cooperation,” the Catholic priest said.
On Friday, Ali joined civil society groups in demanding for a breakdown of the utilisation of the Covid-19 funds in Mombasa.
“People and corporates have contributed hundreds of millions of shillings. How are these funds used? We want to know,” he said.
The MP questioned the passing of the necessary regulations to release the Sh200 million that the county had pledged to set aside for the programme.
On May 6, Coast lobbies demanded a breakdown of how funds meant for the Covid-19 pandemic mitigation measures have been spent in Mombasa.
Coast Civil Society Network chairman Zedekiah Adika blamed the county assembly for the information gap, saying it had not been doing its job and that such information gaps are the loopholes used to embezzle public funds in most cases.
However, county assembly Majority leader Hamisi Musa said they are doing everything possible to ensure there is a constant flow of information.
Musa said they passed a supplementary budget that allocated the Sh200 million that Governor Joho had asked for towards the Covid-19 fight on May 5.
“We are keeping these funds in check,” the Mtongwe MCA said.
Some MCAs deemed rebels, however, accused their counterparts of passing the supplementary budget behind their backs.
“We were not aware there was a session at that time. We only came to learn about it days later,” one of them said in confidence.
Edited by R.Wamochie