Coast regional leaders meet in key unity forum
Governors from the six Coastal counties meet today to discuss the region’s unity ahead of the 2022 General Election.
Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja yesterday confirmed that the sextet: Fahim Twaha of Lamu, Amason Kingi (Kilifi), Dhadho Godhana (Tana River), Hassan Joho (Mombasa) and Salim Mvurya (Kwale) have been invited to attend the meeting to forge the region’s unity.
“Yes, all of them are expected to attend unless there is a real emergency then one can be excused. But the meeting is scheduled for Wednesday,” Governor Samboja told People Daily on phone.
He said the main agenda will be disclosed to the public during the meeting.
A precursor to the function was the February 1, meeting at Dhow House, Nyali in Mombasa County where Joho and Kingi who shared an avenue for the first time in a long time, hosted about 22 members of parliament from both the Senate and the National Assembly to discuss the political future of the region ahead of 2022 General Election.
Top of the agenda at the meeting was unity of the Coast, where leaders in attendance discussed extensively on the need to the political gaps that have divided the region for long with the view of converting the region into a solid bloc ahead of the election.
Sources who attended the meeting divulged in Mombasa that some of the leaders in attendance opened up and told off Joho and Kingi as the gensis of lack of unity in the region and raised doubts of the ability by the two governors to unite the “Coast bloc.”
It was at the Mombasa meeting where it was agreed that Taita Taveta was to host the next meeting on February 9, 2021 which has now been rescheduled to February 10, according to sources familiar with the plans.
With political divisions’ still defining inclination of different factions representing Coast leadership, the idea of Coast unity remains an elusive thought that has made the idea of Coast party almost unattainable, according to observers.
Tanga Tanga politicians
The Mombasa meeting came hot on the heels of the heated agenda over formation of Coast party amidst push and shove by factions allied to Tanga Tanga led by Malindi MP Aisha Jumwa who have been fronting the idea of Kadu Asili against team Kingi who had also vowed to form Coast party before June this year.
In an interesting twist however, Governor Joho who has all along presented himself as the Coast kingpin has insisted that he will vie for the Presidency via ODM ticket.
Even though unity was the agenda of the first meeting, Tanga Tanga affiliated MPs led by Aisha Jumwa (Malindi), Paul Katana (Kaloleni), Benjamin Tayari (Kinango), Athman Sharrif (Lamu East), Feisal Bader (Msambweni), Mohammed Ali (Nyali), and Owen Baya (Kilifi North) were not invited .
