Coast party is residents' idea, not mine, says Kingi

Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi has told off his detractors saying the idea of a Coast party is not his but the people's.

He said he may fail to realise a unifying coastal party but the idea still remains valid and one generation will do.

"We may fail now, but I know one day there is a generation that will make it happen," the Kilifi governor said.

He spoke on Wednesday in Mariakani where he opened the new Mariakani subcounty hospital maternity and theatre, and general ward.

Kingi said apart from the land question, Coast region has for decades suffered from political squatting.

In a thinly veiled jibe at the ODM leadership, Kingi said the very leaders who do not want the Coast to form its own party are the same ones encouraging other regions to form their own parties.

"Double-speak. For how long will the coastal folk be political tenants?" he posed.

The second-term governor has been vocal about the region having its own political vehicle, speaking the same language as Umoja Summit Party of Kenya, which has been advocating for the same.

However, Kingi's stance has rubbed ODM leaders the wrong way.

As a consequence, he was kicked out as the Kilifi county ODM chairman and replaced by Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire.

On Wednesday, he said he suffered the fate because he is a tenant in another person's house.

"The other day my jerrycan was kicked away because the well from which I draw water is not ours. It is someone else's," Kingi said.

Coast, he said, will only be respected if it has its own strong political party that has all the leaders and people from the region in it.

He said the clamour for a strong party from the region started with founding father Ronald Gideon Ngala.

However, he noted, Ngala was forced to fold his party, Kadu.

He criticised those attacking him over his stance, saying they should sort out their differences with him and not oppose a good idea that will help the coastal people.

"They now attack Kingi instead of the idea. This is not Kingi's idea. Do not oppose it because Kingi is involved," he said.

Mariakani MCA Frank Kimosho and his Rabai Kisurutini counterpart Mae Mwadena said the grassroots is calling for a Coast political party.

"Time has come to have our own political house," Mwadena said.

He said whether it is a mud house or a grass house, it will serve the purpose, as long as it has a good roof.

Mwadena said Kingi has been unfairly kicked out as the Kilifi county chair despite building the orange party from scratch in the county.

He noted no other regions has supported ODM like Kilifi has.

"How come we delivered 100 per cent in Kilifi but we are still not respected yet areas where the party started cannot deliver 100 per cent yet they are respected?" Mwadena questioned.

Kimosho said Kingi has been a good driver of the ODM bus in Kilifi but the bus owner has failed to heed his complaints about the brake system.

"Instead of taking the bus to the garage, they fired the driver," Kimosho said.

Kingi said the interests of the people of Kilifi and the Coast come first for him.

He said Coast MPs are forced to abandon many good motions that would help residents because of political parties.

"Many Coast MPs want to bring motions and bills that will help the residents, who voted for them. But the parties that sponsored them to Parliament do not want these motions and bills. So they are forced to drop them," Kingi said.

He said were it not for the strong will of Coast Senators Jones Mwaruma (Taita Taveta), Mombasa's Mohammed Faki, Kwale's Issa Boy and Kilifi's Stewart Madzayo, the Coast region would have lost Sh8 billion.

This is because they rejected the revenue sharing formula that had been proposed earlier.

He said the senators were forced to support the formula because of party loyalty.

Kingi noted the senators put the interests of the Coastal people before the interests of their parties.

"They had to choose between defending the interests of the Coast people who voted for them and the interests of the political parties. That is why we need a party that believes in the interests of the Coastal people," Kingi said.

In the proposed revenue sharing formula, Kilifi was going to lose Sh1.4 billion.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho was once vocal about speaking with one voice at the Coast.

However, he slowly abandoned the clamour.

"We need to speak with a united voice which will be stronger. But we have to remain in ODM which has been a unifying factor at the Coast," Joho has since been saying.

USPK secretary general Naomi Cidi said striving to build one's house is always beneficial in the long term.

"You will stop struggling to pay rent and you will be free to do whatever you want in your house," said Cidi.

Her sentiments echoed those of Kingi who said a visitor is always forced to tow the line of his host.

"You cannot even drink water without the host's permission in someone else's house," he said.

-Edited by SKanyara