The clamour for coastal unity, which has been the talk across the region since the beginning of the year, is diminishing.
The discussion was such that come 2022, the Coast would have found its own footing in national decision-making processes. Now those hopes have been dashed.
The three leaders who gave us these false hopes — Governors Hassan Joho (Mombasa), Amason Kingi (Kilifi) and Salim Mvurya of Kwale — have split ways, with each pursuing personal interests to the issue.
Governor Joho is solidly behind ODM leader Raila Odinga and the party, Mvurya’s invisible hand points toward support for William Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance, and Kingi is actively in search for a political party to identify with.
In the search for the elusive unity, Kingi has come up with two strategies that have so far been unsuccessful. The first was to form a coalition of the existing Coast-based parties — Kadu Asili, Shirikisho, Devolution Party of Kenya, the Republican Party, and Umoja Summit. But the history of some of these parties is soiled with obstinance, dishonesty, suspicion, and greed, on the part of their leaders.
Kadu Asili and the Republican Party, which was formed by Tourism CS Najib Balala, for example, have been Jubilee Party’s appendages. They also have no representations in both Houses of Parliament.
Shirikisho Party was long absorbed and lost in the PNU doldrums through the ubiquitous manoeuvre of former Cabinet minister Chirao Mwakwere, while DPK has remained leaderless following the demise of its founder and former Kaloleni MP, the late Gunga Mwinga.
The Umoja Summit Party is a young baby learning to crawl and we yet have to see what the future portends for it.
Given this scenario, Kingi’s strategy to form a coalition of these parties was doomed to fail, as it did.
His other strategy was to ask for the dissolution of these contending parties and fuse them into a single regional party. This strategy was defeatist in at least two ways: It stifles the spirit of democracy, which tenets include formation of multiple parties, irrespective of their relevance in the society. Dissolution would also spell doom to the party founders who expect to benefit from coalition formations and fallouts from established parties, notably, during party primary elections.
So, which way for Coast unity? For starters, Kingi, the leader of the coast unity crusade, must, of necessity, change his strategies. Bringing people together for a common cause is not a one-off thing, it is a process.
Coast unity must begin from somewhere before it sprouts to the rest of the region. That beginning, in my view, should be rooted in Kilifi county, Kingi’s own backyard, given its size, population, geography and influence.
That should have a domino effect in the rest of the counties — Kwale and Mombasa — where the majority of the populations, like Kilifi, are the Mijikenda.
The success of political unity in these three Mijikenda-dominated counties would again have a diffusion effect to the lesser populous counties of Tana River, Lamu, and Taita Taveta. In essence, unity must have a foundation and the building blocks and Kingi’s strategies lacked these pre-requisites.
Kingi strategies also lacked inclusivity. Unity is not the monopoly of elected leaders and politicians; it should be people-driven. Yet, professionals, civil society, businesspeople, women and yout have been conspicuously absent in the unity talks.
Individually and collectively, Joho, Kingi and Mvurya have behaved as if only the trio can build or destroy the people’s quest for a regional unity. It is this chest-thumping attitude that killed the regional economic initiative Jumuiya ya Kaunti za Pwani earlier in their first terms as governors.
Now, almost a year into the 2022 General Election, coastal communities are like sheep without a shepherd. The unity they clamour for is in the doldrums.
What this means is that, just like in the past decades, the Coast should prepare to be led by others, which also means that the region’s quest to be part of the national decision-making processes post-2022 shall remain an airy dream.
The Coast shall continue to play second fiddle in national issues, just as it has in the past.
