USPK, Kadu-A defend Kingi over Coast party push

Attacking Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi will not stop the push for a coastal party, the region's leaders have said.

The officials were drawn from Umoja Summit Party of Kenya and Kadu Asili.

“It is true that Kingi is not the founding voice of the push. Attacking him will not stop the will of the people,” said USPK chairman Matano Chengo on Thursday.

He spoke a day after Kingi told off his detractors, saying the idea of a Coast party is not his but the people's.

Speaking at Mariakani Subcounty Hospital, where he opened a new maternity and theatre wing, and general ward, Kingi said he may fail to realise the dream of a unifying coastal party but the idea remains valid.

"We may fail now, but I know one day there is a generation that will make it happen," he said.

Kingi said apart from land injustices, Coast has for decades suffered from political squatting.

In a thinly veiled jibe at the ODM leadership, Kingi said the very leaders who do not want the Coast to form its own party, are the same ones encouraging other regions to form their own parties.

"Double-speak! For how long will the Coastal folk be political tenants?" he said.

The second-term governor has been vocal about the region having its own political vehicle, speaking the same language as Umoja Summit Party of Kenya.

However, Kingi's stance has rubbed ODM leaders the wrong way.

As a consequence, he was kicked out as the Kilifi county ODM chairman and replaced with Ganze MP Teddy Mwambire.

On Wednesday, Kilifi said he suffered that fate because he was a tenant in someone else's house.

"The other day my jerrycan was kicked away because the well from which I draw water is not ours. It is someone else's," he said.

Kadu Asili chairman Kombora Korokoro and organising secretary Said Mwanyoha on Thursday said Kingi is welcome to resume talks on a coastal political vehicle.

Kingi is said to have gone silent after Coast-based parties rejected his idea of a merger of all the parties into one formidable one.

Four Coast-based parties – USPK, Kadu Asili, Shirikisho Party of Kenya and Republican Congress – have been holding talks with Kingi and Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya about having one political voice.

The four were later joined by the Communist Party of Kenya linked with former MP Mwandawiro Mghanga.

On Wednesday, Kingi said the Coast will only be respected if it has its own strong political party.

He said the clamour for a strong party from the region started with founding father Ronald Gideon Ngala.

However, Kingi said, Ngala was forced to fold his party, Kadu.

He criticised those attacking him over his stand, saying they should sort out their differences with him and not oppose a good idea that will help the people.

"They now attack Kingi instead of the idea. This is not Kingi's idea. Do not oppose it because Kingi is involved," he said.

Mariakani MCA Frank Kimosho and his Rabai Kisurutini counterpart Mae Mwadena said the grassroots is calling for a Coast political party.

"Time has come to have our own political house," said Mwadena.

Whether it is made of mud or grass, it will serve the purpose so long as it has a good roof, he said.

Mwadena said Kingi was unfairly kicked out by ODM despite building the party from scratch in the county.

He said no other region has supported ODM like Kilifi has.

"How come we delivered 100 per cent in Kilifi but we are still not respected yet areas where the party started but cannot deliver 100 per cent are respected?" Mwadena said.

Kimosho said Kingi was a good driver of the ODM bus in Kilifi but the owner of the vehicle failed to heed his complaints about the brake system.

"Instead of taking the bus to the garage, they fire the driver," he said.

On Wednesday, USPK secretary general Naomi Cidi said she is glad Kingi has finally seen the light.

“He should have talked about this a long time ago. He was busy in ODM, which had other interests at heart,” she said.

“He should go on with the gospel he has now seen.”

Governor Kingi said the interests of the people of Kilifi and the Coast come first for him.

He said Coast MPs are forced to abandon many good motions that would help residents because of political parties.

"Many Coast MPs want to bring motions and bills that will help the residents who voted for them. But the parties that sponsored them to Parliament do not want these motions and bills. So they are forced to drop them," Kingi said.

He said were it not for the strong will of Coast Senators Jones Mwaruma (Taita Taveta), Mombasa's Mohammed Faki, Kwale's Issa Boy and Kilifi's Stewart Madzayo, the region would have lost Sh8 billion.

They rejected a revenue-sharing formula that had been proposed earlier.

"They had to choose between defending the interests of the Coast people who voted for them and the interests of the political parties. That is why we need a party that believes in the interests of the Coastal people," Kingi said.

In the proposed revenue-sharing formula, Kilifi would have lost Sh1.4 billion.

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho was once vocal about speaking with one voice at the Coast.

However, he slowly abandoned the clamour.

"We need to speak with a united voice that will be stronger," Joho has since been saying.

"But we have to remain in ODM, which has been a unifying factor at the Coast."

Cidi said striving to build one's own house is always beneficial in the long term.

"You will stop struggling to pay rent and you will be free to do whatever you want in your house," she said.

Her sentiments echoed those of Kingi who said a visitor is always forced to toe the line of his host.

"You cannot even drink water without the host's permission in someone else's house," he said.

Kingi is said to be behind the registration of Pamoja Alliance. However, its registration caused disquiet among leaders.

According to sources privy to the discussions that started in January, PAA was supposed to be a coalition of Coast-based parties.

“But we were surprised to learn that Kingi has been given the provisional certificate of the outfit, which we were told has been registered as a political party,” a source who was part of the talks since January told the Star on Thursday.

Talks about coastal unity are set to resume next week in Mombasa. The last one was held in Voi last month.

It is not clear whether Kingi will attend the meeting.

Chengo, Mwanyoha, Korokoro and Cidi however said Kingi is welcome to resume the talks.

On Tuesday, Kingi resisted pressure from the UDA brigade, led by Deputy President William Ruto, to join the Hustler Nation.

Speaking at the burial of Mvurya’s mother in Kwale, Kingi said joining UDA will not make sense because it will not be different from being in ODM.

“We want to dig our own well so we can draw our own water,” he said.

Edited by Josephine M. Mayuya