Coast politicians need to formulate better solutions to the region’s woes instead of engaging in drama, Mombasa politician Suleiman Shahbal has said.
Shahbal said dwelling on the standard gauge railway, which is not the primary cause of the region’s woes, is a waste of precious time.
He said the rain started beating the Coast when the region’s leaders dropped the ball on education.
“They did not appreciate its empowering capacity,” he said.
Speaking to the Star on phone, Shahbal said residents and past government ministers should also be blamed for the situation.
“I blame us for voting in incompetent leaders. Most of all, I blame the ministers who derailed our key opportunity chasing personal interests,” Shahbal said.
He, however, said a change of focus is needed to allow for better ideas to take advantage of other opportunities presented.
“When the cheese moves, you move with the cheese,” he said.
Shahbal said time has come for the leaders to preach the message of hope to the region’s youth instead of peddling anger and the language of resistance.
This was a message to the Fast Action Movement officials, who have vowed to resume Black Mondays - the weekly demonstrations against the forced haulage of cargo via SGR.
Shahbal on Wednesday said the SGR train has left the station and time has come to shift focus on solutions which will have impact on the ground.
“We have the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone that the government is establishing. Our politicians should be shouting at the top of their voices for the completion of this project now,” the politician-cum-businessman said.
The Dongo Kundu project will create more job opportunities for youth than the Mombasa port, he said.
An estimated 10,000 jobs will be created directly by the project and tens of thousands more indirectly.
He noted that rooting for the removal of Transport CS James Macharia as Nyali MP Mohammed Ali is doing will not solve the problem.
“CS Macharia is part of the system and removing him will only mean another one takes his position which is still in the system,” Shahbal said.
He said Mombasa MPs led by Mvita’s Abdulswamad Nassir have been rooting for and got private trucks to transport cargo again after the government attempted to have all cargo transported to the Naivasha dry port via SGR.
“Now they have allowed private trucks to share cargo, will the situation in the coast improve?” he asked.
He said the Dongo Kundu SEZ is the main opportunity available right now.
“The Mombasa politicians should focus on shouting from the rooftops on this project. This is the Marshall Plan we need. Yes, SGR has affected us badly, but our economy was already comatose before SGR put us in a death spiral. We need real solutions, not more drama,” he told the Star on phone.
Edited by R.Wamochie
