Defend Kenya Kwanza aggressively, Coast UDA leaders tell allies

UDA leaders at the Coast now want the Kenya Kwanza-affiliated leaders in the region to be more aggressive in defending the government.

Led by presidential political advisor Karisa Nzai, the leaders said the Coastal region is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Kenya Kwanza regime but the leaders are lukewarm when it comes to speaking about the positives President William Ruto’s administration has done.

Speaking at a Baptist Church in Msumarini village in Magarini constituency, Kilifi county, Nzai said President Ruto’s regime has brought the Mijikenda community closer to power more than any other government in the history of Kenya.

He called on the Mijikenda community to take advantage of this and invest more in farms because farm inputs, like fertilizer, have reduced prices due to government policies.

“Let’s go back to the farms so we can be able to grow our food and become self-sufficient and at the same time have food security,” Nzai said.

He asked the Coastal communities to give President William Ruto ample time to turn around the economy, which he said was on its deathbed when he took over.

If President Ruto is given the time he needs to fix the Kenyan economy, he said, Kenya will roar back to life and take its rightful place among the giant economies in the African continent.

“You know he is not a drunkard. He has sound ideas on what he has to do to get Kenya moving. He has started implementing those ideas and now he needs all the support Kenyans can give him,” Nzai said.

Because Ruto has Kenya at heart, he said, there are already programs in place that are meant to reinvigorate different sectors including education, agriculture, and social services, among others.

“Those elderly people who were forced to walk for long distances to receive their monthly stipends now receive them on their phones in the comfort of their homes,” Nzai said.

He however said leaders, who are supposed to inform their people about these truths, have been hiding them because of political reasons.

The presidential advisor said the Coastal region should not always be in opposition for the sake of opposing but has to weigh things and critically think about the pros and cons of their actions.

“For once, let us embrace the government and do our part to support the government which is a government for all the people in the country,” Nzai said.

He urged the Coastal residents not to heed the call for demonstrations that the Azimio leadership has threatened to call for.

Dialogue, he said, solves many problems amicably without any destruction of property or loss of lives.

“There is no need to go to the streets. All the opposition leaders have access to the President. They can sit down and talk. No need to disrupt all we have and all we plan to do,” Nzai said.

"The government has released school capitation and NG-CDF funds and opposition areas will not speak about it as loudly as they do when the capitation delays."

He called on the state officers involved in such sectors to loudly speak about such whenever it occurs so that Kenyans, especially those directly targeted by such funds, know what the government has done.

“Because we know the opposition leaders will not amplify such good moves because they only wait for faults, the state officers involved should do the work of publicizing such events,” Nzai said.

“Monies in the education sector have been released. Those targeted ought to be informed so they can go for them, whether it is bursaries, scholarships or any other monies. It is their right,” Nzai said.

UDA politician Philip Mbaji said the economy does not belong to President Ruto as an individual but Kenya as a country.

He said there is no excuse for Kenyans if the economy is poor.

He said Kenyans have no choice but to be patriotic and support the government of the day arguing that if the government fails, it is Kenya and all Kenyans that will suffer irrespective of political affiliation.

“This is more so because if you look at the President’s manifesto and that of the opposition during campaigns, they were more or less the same. So whatever the President is implementing, it was also in the opposition’s plans,” Mbaji said.

He thus called on the Kenya Kwanza leaders to be at the forefront in informing Kenyans about the things the government does that target to improve the lives of the people at the grassroots.

He said leaders affiliated with Kenya Kwanza should be speaking about the release of the NG-CDF, the county government allocations and the school capitation funds that have been released.

“Otherwise, Azimio leaders will wrongly paint the government in bad light. There are no pending bills from the national government in all countries now.

“The beauty of this is that even in opposition areas the funds have been released,” Mbaji said.

Stanley Karisa, a UDA politician, said there is a need to give the government time and a conducive environment for it to perform optimally.

“For this to happen, there must be peace and security. This can only be done if we avoid such things that will make street protests,” Karisa said.

He echoed Nzai’s sentiments that Coastal communities need to take advantage of the government’s investment in agriculture and go back to the farms.

He said the rains that are witnessed on the Coast are a welcome advantage that the Coastal residents need to grab.

“But we also ask the government to increase its input in agriculture at the Coast. This, coupled with the work that we call from our Coastal people, will ensure food security in the region and the country,” Karisa said.

The Coastal region is one of the areas that usually suffer famine whenever there is drought in the country.

Bamba area in Kilifi County is usually one of the most affected areas.

Last year, five children died after consuming poisonous mushrooms after hunger pangs kicked in and they went fetching mushrooms to cook.

Unfortunately, they picked the poisonous mushrooms instead of the normal ones that are edible.