- The leaders are now demanding that Nassir should honour his promises made to Jubilee during last year's Mombasa gubernatorial race.
- They said Jubilee members voted overwhelmingly for Nassir as their Azimio la Umoja Coalition candidate, contributing to his victory.
Image: LABAN WALLOGA
Jubilee Party leaders in Mombasa have faulted Governor Abdulswamad Nassir, accusing him of sidelining Jubilee members in county appointments.
The leaders are now demanding that Nassir should honour his promises made to Jubilee during last year's Mombasa gubernatorial race.
They said Jubilee members voted overwhelmingly for Nassir as their Azimio la Umoja Coalition candidate, contributing to Nassir’s definite victory against other opponents.
“When our party leader former President Uhuru Kenyatta came to open the Makupa Bridge last year, he pleaded with party supporters to stand with Nassir and we as leaders rallied our supporters and we overwhelmingly voted for Nassir and he won the seat," Richard Barake, the Mombasa Jubilee party chair.
“We want to see him (Nassir) deliver on the promises he made to Jubilee because up to now, Jubilee members are disgruntled and are blaming us as their leaders."
Barake said that it is paramount for leaders under the Azimio coalition to understand that in any development conducted by Azimio governments, Jubilee is also an important stakeholder and as such they should not be sidelined the way they are currently feeling under Governor Nassir's administration.
He called on the governor to create time and meet with jubilee members in Mombasa and just thank them for the support they gave him during the election so that they could feel appreciated for the work they did and the support they gave.
“We want him also to involve Jubilee party in county appointments, so far not even a single member has benefited from any position, making Jubilee members feel sidelined in the Azimio house in Mombasa,” Barake said.
In the 2022 general election in Mombasa, Jubilee did not field a candidate for the gubernatorial seat but resolved to rally their troops behind Nassir of ODM under the coalition.
Under the zoning system, the Azimio coalition agreed to allow certain regions to be dominated by affiliate party members instead of competing against each other and give a chance to the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party to win seats at the grassroots.
Jubilee, however, said that they will not repeat the mistake again in Mombasa vowing to field candidates for all the positions.
Mombasa has six subcounties with ODM having five MPs with the exception of Nyali constituency where Mohamed Ali defended his seat on a UDA ticket defeating Said Abdalla of ODM.
Out of the 30 wards in Mombasa, ODM won 24 with UDA taking four seats and two MCA’s allied to Azimio were elected as independent candidates.
The senator and the county Woman Rep were also elected on ODM tickets.
“In the last election, Jubilee was not given the chance to elect leaders because of the arrangement called zoning, but I want to assure our members that this will never happen again," Nelson Akwaka, the Mombasa Jubilee Secretary-General said.
“Going forward, we are going to fill candidates for each position so that we can democratically compete with other parties within the coalition. We will not allow any interference to hinder us from fielding our candidates."
The leaders assured party members that Jubilee was very strong and remained united as they extended an olive branch to some members who had decamped to UDA.
They said that the party was in the process of organizing a massive recruitment exercise in a bid to revitalise the party in readiness for the 2027 general elections.
They at the same time backed the position of coast parliamentarians regarding the Lamu and Mombasa ports privatisation and or concession debacle.
They said that the two national assets play an important economic role in the region in terms of job creation and businesses and as such any decision involving them, all coast leaders must be involved.
“As Jubilee party, we support the position taken by the coast leaders on matters relating to the two ports. Any discussions about the ports must involve the elected leaders and that is the position of the Jubilee party in Mombasa,” Barake said.