Raila arrives in Mombasa for Tononoka rally, inspects Joho's projects

NASA co-principal Raila Odinga when he inspected the 3000-seating capacity Uwanja wa Mbuzi soccer stadium in Nyali built by Mombasa county government, Saturday, March 25, 2017. /EVANS OUMA
NASA co-principal Raila Odinga when he inspected the 3000-seating capacity Uwanja wa Mbuzi soccer stadium in Nyali built by Mombasa county government, Saturday, March 25, 2017. /EVANS OUMA

ODM leader Raila Odinga arrived in Mombasa on Saturday ahead of the party's Sunday rally at Tononoka grounds.

This followed an invitation by deputy party leader Hassan Joho. Other NASA leaders will not attend.

NASA brings together co-principals Raila, Musalia Mudavadi (ANC), Kalonzo Musyoka (Wiper), and Moses Wetang'ula (Ford-K).

The leaders held a joint rally in Nairobi's Mathare constituency on Friday where they announced plans to establish a .

Raila said he was excited to have been invited to the Mombasa rally.

On arrival, Raila inspected a football pitch being constructed by the county government within Kongowea, Nyali constituency.

"I am happy to be here today. As you know, we are anticipating a huge rally tomorrow. But I first had to inspect some of the development projects executed by the ODM government here in Mombasa," Raila said.

He further challenged Jubilee to show Kenyans what they have done for the past four years with Sh8 trillion.

"Kenyans are tired of the lies that Jubilee tell; Where are the five international stadia? Where are the 10,000 kms of roads? Time is up."

"Let them demonstrate what they have done with the Sh 8 trillion that you, as tax payers, have given Jubilee since they took office," he said.

He told the Jubilee administration 'to stop piggy-backing on the projects of various counties across the country'.

Oh his part, Joho said he was pleased to have Raila visit the county.

"He has even told us that when the pitch is done, we will hold a football tournament between the youth and the old," Joho said.

"As you know he is a good footballer," the governor said following the visit that comes barely days after the latter clashed with Uhuru.

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ODM's rally will be happening barely 4 kilometers away from a parallel one organised by Jubilee at the Mvita grounds.

Observers say it might intensify tensions at the Coast between the two leading political factions which have been at loggerheads in recent times.

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The gathering follows in the wake of police breaking an ODM meeting in Kwale.

The officers fired teargas to disperse supporters who had streamed at the venue of the Kinango township rally.

On March 12, plans by the ODM to hold a parallel rally to Jubilee’s were thwarted by the police on security grounds.

The police said their capacity to provide security would be overstretched.

The security officials said they were to man President Uhuru Kenyatta’s rally and a prayer meeting by Prophet David Owuor.

Makupa OCS John Owuoth said the ODM also failed to notify them of their plans to hold the said rally in good time.

Recently, Joho was blocked by police from accessing a function where President Uhuru Kenyatta officiated the reopening of the Mtongwe ferry services.

The governor, a critic of the Jubilee administration, has been at the forefront of trashing the government's development record at the Coast.

This was largely seen as the main reason he was barred from attending Uhuru's function.

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Joho, however, expressed optimism that the police will show up at Sunday's rally purposely to provide security and not to disrupt the event.

"Our expectation is that we will have police at this rally. Let their work be to provide security. We have come to realise that our meetings are always disrupted only by the police."

The ODM rally is one amongst a series of others the party plans to hold ahead of the August 8 polls as it seeks to stamp its authority as the most popular political outfit at the Coast.

Jubilee, on the other hand, is trying to make inroads in the region which has for a long time been viewed as an opposition stronghold.

The ruling coalition has been banking on using its development record as the selling point but the ODM has persistently trashed the same saying there is nothing to show.

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