- The UDA vice chair on Saturday said political differences will only serve to hurt Mombasa residents who need development.
- He said the leaders should find time and sit down as Mombasa people and seek to have issues affecting the county addressed.
Image: BRIAN OTIENO
East Africa Legislative Assembly MP Hassan Omar has extended an olive branch to all Mombasa elected leaders saying they should have unity of purpose.
The UDA vice chair on Saturday said political differences will only serve to hurt Mombasa residents who need development.
“Let us put our political differences aside and let us work together,” Omar said.
He spoke during the launch of The Unity of Purpose, a socio-economic organisation that has been established to empower Mombasa residents economically.
It is made up of 30 Mombasa county UDA party coordinators and will come up with different economic projects that will benefit Mombasa residents.
Omar said Mombasa residents look up to the current crop of leaders following the demise of veteran politicians like former Changamwe MP Ramadhan Kajembe and former Likoni MP Masoud Mwahima.
He said MPs Omar Mwinyi (Changamwe), Badi Twalib (Jomvu), Mohammed Ali (Nyali), Rashid Bedzimba (Kisauni), Mishi Mboko (Likoni), Masoud Machele (Mvita) and Zamzam Mohamed (Mombasa Woman Representative), and Senator Mohamed Faki are the available leaders.
“We are the ones remaining as the political elders in Mombasa,” Omar said at the YMCA compound in Kizingo.
He said the leaders should find time and sit down as Mombasa people and seek to have issues affecting the county addressed, saying President William Ruto is a person who listens.
His sentiments were echoed by Nominated Senator Miraj Abdillahi, who noted that unity of purpose has brought development to many regions.
Mombasa, she said, has enough resources to uplift the county to the standards of other big cities in the world but due to unnecessary political differences, Mombasa has remained relatively poor.
“If I cannot speak to my childhood friend because we joined different political outfits, how will Mombasa be able to use the Indian Ocean to grow its economy? I will give suggestions that will be criticised not because they are bad but because they have been suggested by one from the wrong political outfit,” Abdillahi said.
She said she will continue drumming up support for the Kenya Kwanza administration and at the same time explain to people the good intentions it has for Mombasa and the Coast region.
President Ruto, she said, has a vision for Mombasa that many do not see because their eyes are blocked by politics.
“We have sat with him and seen the passion he has when he talks about the potential that this county has,” Abdillahi said.
The two leaders said the Special Economic Zone in Dongo Kundu, the blue economy, the housing projects, among other mega projects in the region will be hastened only if they work together as one and speak with one voice.
“He (President Ruto) has big hopes for Mombasa. Let us look for this network. No one can work in isolation,” Omar said.
He said anyone who thinks they can work in isolation does not know the strength in unity.
He noted that other regions have realised this and are working in unity for the benefit of their residents.
Omar said leaders like James Orengo, Anyang Nyong’o, Ochilo Ayacko and many others from especially Nyanza region, always put their political differences aside when it comes to development for their people.
“Unfortunately, some when called, go with files alone and wait for photo opportunities.”
He said the world over, national governments always have more plans than the local administrations.
He said he will support any idea that leaders have that will involve working together.
Leaders from Mombasa, he said, should defend and fight for Mombasa no matter the political affiliation.
“We have been marginalised for long but we now have an opportunity to get it right this time,” Omar said.
-Edited by SKanyara