What Ruto’s presidency means as Coast region awaits pledges
Following the Monday declaration of Deputy President William Ruto as _resident-Elect, residents of the coastal region now say the onus is on the new leadership to walk its talk on the list of campaign promises made for the region.
On the campaign trail in the run-up to the elections, Mombasa Port dominated debates and became fodder for both Kenya Kwanza and Azimio-One Kenya presidential candidates, as they sought the support of the close to one million voters from the region’s counties.
Both Azimio and Kenya Kwanza camps promised their respective governments will revert port operations to the Port of Mombasa should they succeed to form the next government.
It was Ruto who first made the pledge in December last year when he accused “individuals with selfish interests” of frustrating the original Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) plan to suit their personal interests and thereby interfering with the port services.
During his campaign at the Coast, the President-Elect is on record saying leaders guided by selfish interests and greed, transferred Port operations to Naivasha and the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Nairobi against the agreement that was signed during the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).
Ruto said that the initial plan of SGR was to create more jobs and bolster the economy of the region and the country through Special Economic Zones, but individuals hijacked the plan midway, leaving the City almost like a “ghost town.”
In his repeated tours of the Coast, Ruto assured his government will revert port operations to Mombasa on August 10, should he be elected the next president.
“I want to assure you that by God’s grace, we will make sure that the original plan of SGR, accompanied by the special economic zone plan where we have close to 3,000 acres in Dongo Kundu will be implemented to restart the economy of Mombasa and restore the port city’s glory. These are the things that we must join hands together as we move forward,” he said.
Besides the port debate, the president elect said he had an elaborate plan of action to eliminate food insecurity as well as tap into the available resources to turnaround the economic fortunes of the region.
Ruto also signed various economic charters in all the six coastal counties where he promised guaranteed minimum returns for farmers and miners in the region through the deliberate programmes of agro-processing and value addition to elevate the standards of products in the sectors.
It is against the above backdrop that residents in the region are now hoping that the President elect will hit the ground running and implement the promises.
“We are happy for the win because he signed economic charters in all the 47 counties that we believe can revolutionize the economy of this region. He also mentioned boda boda and mama mbogas and we hope that he will stick to these promises. We are hoping that he will not divert his attention to other things,” said Vincent Muteti, a resident of Mombasa.
Omondi Bung’ere, another resident,urged Ruto to keep his promise of lowering the cost of living saying the prices of maize flour, cooking oil and fuel have plunged Kenyans into suffering.
“I want to congratulate Ruto for clinching the presidency …I can only hope that all his campaign promises were not just baits to attract votes… We just hope that the promises will be implemented,” said Bung’ere.
Majority of residents especially the youth were upbeat on the promise to revert port services to Mombasa saying that many of them were rendered jobless following collapse of clearing and forwarding services.
“Container Freight Stations have already let go of more than 3,000 people who were employed either directly or indirectly. The transport sector is dead. Thousands of trucks have no work and drivers and support staff have lost jobs. The logistics business has all moved to Nairobi. My city is dying. Despite denials, the truth is that the port, which was the mainstay of our economy, has moved to Nairobi,” said Hassan Hassan who said he lost his job at a clearing and forwarding firm.
