Mombasa port will never be privatised, says Ruto

@Yobramos4    

President William Ruto has once again denied that the government is planning to privatise the Port of Mombasa.

Speaking in Mombasa on Thursday evening, Ruto said the government is looking for investment at the Mombasa port to increase its capacity and employment opportunities.

“The people working at the port are few, only about 8,000. We want to organise this port, together with the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone, to employ more than 50,000 young people,” Ruto said.

He spoke in Buxton during the launch of Phase 2 of the Buxton Point affordable housing project.

Ruto said the Mombasa port is a big resource for Kenya but it is doing badly in terms of efficiency, being ranked at number 326 out of 348 ports in the world.

“You see how our issues have gone wrong? Almost last! Because it is has no efficiency. We want it to be top 10,” Ruto said.

To achieve this, he said, efficiency must be increased, the port itself must be expanded and more investors must be sought.

“That is why I am looking for investors. My assurance is the port of Mombasa will never be privatised,” Ruto said.

He bashed players in the former regime, whom he accused of taking the port services to Nairobi and Naivasha, denying coastal people a livelihood, and asked them not to question him.

Ruto said the government will bring in people who will help expand the port and make it more efficient so that instead of it doing a million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), it will be doing between five million and eight million TEUs annually.

“We must use the ports in Kenya to make sure that we derive economic benefits, create jobs, investments and industries for the people of Kenya,” the head of state said.

Mombasa Governor Abdulswamad Nassir has been opposed to the privatisation of the Mombasa port, saying the county has not been involved in any way.

He said the port is in Mombasa county and anything touching on it must have the county government involved to safeguard residents.

On Thursday, Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua hit out at Nassir saying he has been acting like a chameleon, changing colours depending on who he is with.

He said Nassir has been siding with Ruto and himself whenever they are in Mombasa but changes tune when they go back to Nairobi.

“You are my friend, let me advise you,” Gachagua told Nassir.

“You are doing well but be close to the President. Don’t move from there. This governor sits close to the President and myself when we come to Mombasa, and he talks good about us."

“But when we leave and the others come, he keeps quiet. We want a governor who talks good about the President when he is there and does the same when he is not,” Gachagua added.

He said the future is where the President is.

Meanwhile, President Ruto said he will revoke the list of people to be compensated for the Dongo Kundu project saying it has been infiltrated by goons and corrupt people.

He said a new list will be developed within two months before construction works at Dongo Kundu starts in January.

“There is a long list of people claiming to be from Dongo Kundu. But when you look at their address it is written P. O. Box Kakamega, Eldoret, Murang’a. If your P. O. Box is Kakamega, what are you doing in Dongo Kundu?” Ruto posed.

Hundreds of people have been enlisted at having been affected by the Dongo Kundu project, who are in line for compensation.

The President said some people claimed to have a beehive along the Dongo Kundu project and that they want to be paid Sh100,000 for that beehive.

“They calculated how much honey they would get from that one beehive per year and multiplied it by 20 years. How sure are you that the bees would come to that beehive in the first place?” posed Ruto.

He said only the genuine people who live in Dongo Kundu will be compensated.