- According to Nzai, an aspirant in Kilifi County said that Mombasa Cement Company should be relocated from Vipingo in Kilifi to another region.
- Nzai said such utterances are retrogressive.
Image: COURTESY
Jomvu MP Aspirant on United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party ticket Karisa Nzai has called upon political leaders to avoid using language that may scare away investors.
According to Nzai, an aspirant in Kilifi County said that Mombasa Cement Company should be relocated from Vipingo in Kilifi to another region.
Nzai, who is also UDA’s national organizing secretary, said such utterances are retrogressive.
“It is very sad that leaders can use such language to investors,” said Nzai.
He was speaking on Tuesday afternoon in Jomvu during a rally to celebrate the clearance of UDA Mombasa gubernatorial aspirant Hassan Omar by Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC).
Nzai condemned such sentiments, saying that it is through the investors that youth get employed, and if they choose to leave the county, many will be rendered jobless.
He said UDA’s vision for Mombasa is to revive the dwindling economy.
“One of the agreements we had with Deputy President William Ruto is that when he gets the leadership after the August 9 general elections, he reverts back the port operations immediately,” he said.
Last month, during his four-day tour of the coast, Ruto said it will only take him one day to return port services to Mombasa.
Ruto said unlike ODM leader Raila Odinga, who has promised to return port services to Mombasa within 100 days of the Azimio la Umoja administration, the Kenya Kwanza administration will do it immediately after winning the August 9 general election.
“Immediately after winning the August 9 general election, the following day I would have returned port services to Mombasa,” said Ruto in Mombasa.
In 2018, President Uhuru Kenyatta's administration issued a directive that all cargo clearance will be done from either Nairobi Inland Depot or the Naivasha Inland Depot.
Consequently, all port operations were transferred from Mombasa.
Ruto said, "At least 7,000 jobs were directly affected by this directive. We will reverse that directive, once we get in office."
At the same time, Ruto reiterated that the Kenya Kwanza Administration is committed to resolving the land problems, which have bedevilled the region for many years.
He said his administration will set aside a special kitty to purchase idle land from the absentee landlords and tycoons in the region.
“We have plans to buy at least one million acres here at the Coast from the absentee landlords and land tycoons, Either we negotiate with them or use forceful acquisition by the government so that we can finish the issue of land at the Coast once and for all,” said Ruto, both in Likoni and Kisauni.