• USPK secretary general Naomi Cidi on Monday said apportioning blame on national leaders for the woes facing the region is burying heads in the sand.
• Her sentiments came in the wake of a clamour for a Coast-based party to house the political leaders in the region.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
Coast leaders need to get out of their comfort zones and start rallying their people towards the political negotiating table, the Umoja Summit Party of Kenya has said.
In an interview with the Star on Monday, secretary general Naomi Cidi said apportioning blame on national leaders for the woes facing the region is burying heads in the sand.
“Instead of blaming them now, we should have been working with them to avoid the things we are blaming them for,” said Cidi in a phone interview.
She said blaming Opposition chief Raila Odinga and ODM, President Uhuru Kenyatta and Jubilee, and Deputy President William Ruto is escapist.
“The earlier we realise that speaking against Raila, Ruto or Uhuru will not change Pwani, the better. Don’t think everyone thinks the way you think. If you see the current politicians are the reason for our downfall then you are blind and not a critical thinker,” Cidi said.
She said most leaders in the region know what to do but are too afraid to take the first step. The party has been advocating the region's unity, saying it is the key to the political strength that the region has but is not using.
“Let us blame ourselves. We are in comfort zones in other people’s houses where we cannot speak out freely,” Cidi said.
Cidi is an avid advocate of a Coastal vehicle that will lead the region to the negotiating table where the ‘big boys’ are.
“Our unity first, so we can plan together the roadmap to 2022. Only then can we be respected and be invited to negotiate with the big boys.
“We need to stop blaming the big boys. Instead, we need to find a way to work with them in unity. Speaking with one voice as a region,” Cidi said.
Pointing fingers will only fuel more division, she added. Her sentiments come in the wake of a clamour for a Coast-based party to house the political leaders in the region.
Three weeks ago, about 10 MPs from the region said a new party was in the works. They said they would be ditching ODM, the most popular party among residents. The Orange party houses most MPs from the region.
The MPs, led by Kilifi North’s Owen Baya, said they have been in ODM for long with nothing to show for it. However, a number of them, including Voi’s Jones Mlolwa, later disassociated themselves from the sentiments, saying they were taken out of context.
Mlolwa said they are in ODM to stay.
But on Monday, Cidi said everyone wants the same thing but taking the first step is the hard thing. She said the USPK is the first step.
“We need to find the middle ground. We have taken the first step already,” she said.
She cited Tourism CS Najib Balala as an example of what a vehicle can achieve.
“Balala had no MCA, no MP. But he had a political vehicle which he used to negotiate for himself and his people and got the reward,” Cidi said.
Balala’s Republican Congress Party of Kenya was one of the parties that folded to form Jubilee Party.
Cidi was, however, optimistic that local politicians will heed her call, saying some are already seeing the light.
“I am positive because the vibes I am seeing are significant. By the end of this year, there will be something big in this region,” she said.
Coast people, she said, are those who live and work in the region and not a particular community. She said this is the message the USPK has embarked on after which they will tackle another problem that potentially hinders the region from speaking with one voice.
Every election cycle sees some Coast residents move away from the region to their native counties to vote, she noted.
“Then when there is a bad leader at the Coast, you complain about poor leadership yet you escaped to vote in another region,” she noted, adding that it beats logic.
“You cannot spend 95 per cent of your time at the Coast and then go vote in another region where you spend only five per cent of your life. Vote where you live, work and spend 90 per cent of your life."
Should the latest campaign bear fruit, the region will have a three-million strong vote bloc, she said.
In 2017, just before the general elections, the region had 1,733,722 voters listed. Cidi said the USPK will be a key outfit by January 2021.
“That is when the rubber will meet the road,” she said.