Ali questions Coast broad-based MPs demands for Coast kingpin

Cup pressure peaks as Shabana host Kenya Police in blockbuster quarter-final Football

Upper Hill coach Walgwe unperturbed despite drawing giants in Prescott Cup group phase Rugby

Nyali MP Mohammed Ali has blasted Coastal leaders in the broad-based government saying they are failing their electorate.

Ali on Saturday said instead of asking President William Ruto for tangible development projects for the Coast region, they are only interested in making CS Hassan Joho the regional kingpin.

This comes as EALA MP Suleiman Shahbal calls for a stop to the political competitions saying political leaders should work for their people first before engaging in 2027 contests.

Shahbal, who is an ODM MP, said time for political bickering is more than one year away and that leaders should not waste time campaigning for 2027.

On Saturday, at Khadija primary school where he distributed Sh75 million NG-CDF bursaries for all public secondary school learners in Nyali and for Nyali students in schools outside Nyali, Ali said instead of the Coastal MPs seeking mega road projects and hospitals, they are lining behind one person seeking to be the Coastal kingpin.

“Instead of asking President William Ruto for more hospitals at the Coast, you go and hide in Malindi and say that Joho will form his own party if he is not given a seat in the government.

“Wasn’t he in ODM? Didn’t he say Ruto is bad? Didn’t he say he will never push the wheelbarrow? Now he is sweating all over because he is being instructed to push the wheelbarrow,” Ali said.

Ali has indicated he is interested in the Mombasa governor seat, which is expected to attract as many as five candidates including former Kisauni MP Ali Mbogo, UDA secretary general Hassan Omar, incumbent Abdulswamad Nassir, Mombasa county assembly speaker Aharub Khatri, former Nyali MP Awiti Bolo, and EALA MP Shahbal, although he has kept mum on his candidature this time round.

The Nyali MP, a lone ranger in the Mombasa political scene, has severed relations with UDA, under whose ticket he retained the Nyali MP seat in 2022.

He has warmed up to DCP leader and former deputy president Rigathi Gachagua.

Joho is angling to be the Coastal political kingpin, being one of three politicians from the region in the senior most political positions in the country, with others being Sports CS Salim Mvurya and Senate Speaker Amason Kingi.

Mvurya is from Kwale county, Kingi from Kilifi county while Joho is from Mombasa county.

Kingi has the Pamoja African Alliance as his bargaining chip, while Mvurya ditched ODM for UDA in the 2017 general elections.

On January 17, speaking at a meeting with Luo professionals at the Tudor Pastoral Centre, Shahbal said Joho is the Coastal political kingpin and if he is kicked out of ODM, he will move out with 40 MPs.

“We can see clearly attempts to kick out Joho. But any attempts to alienate this guy is going to backfire seriously,” Shahbal insisted.

Although Joho has been in ODM throughout, speculations indicating he has formed his own party through which he wants to be on the negotiating table have refused to die.

Joho himself has dismissed those speculations say they are null and void.

But Ali said on Saturday: “We know their plans. Form that party if you want. But you will meet the voters on the ground. They don’t eat parties. They will ask what Ali has done and what you have done....And tell them I am the kingpin of the poor here in Mombasa.”

Last Saturday, Shahbal said there is no need for him or any other politician to start campaigning too early while he still has work to do for the benefit of not only Kenyans but also the entire East African region.

“Let people work. It is still too early. Is there anyone in Mombasa who doesn’t know Shahbal today? Why should I go round Mombasa every time? What would I be telling the people? ” he posed.

Shahbal said Mombasa people already know his policies owing to his vying for the governor seat three times.

He said the governor, senator, woman representative, MPs and MCAs and the Mombasa county assembly speaker must all be working for the people who elected them to office.

Ali said politicians should show what they have done for the people before having any moral authority to dictate who should vie where.

He was responding to attacks from the ODM brigade that he is an outsider, who has no roots in Mombasa, claims he said were not made while he was vying for the Nyali MP seat.

“Now that they hear rumours that I am going for a higher seat, suddenly they are claiming I am not from Mombasa. Mombasa is a cosmopolitan county.

“Is there a sin if a Luo becomes governor? Is there a problem if a Kamba person becomes governor in Mombasa? Is it a sin if a Kikuyu becomes governor? What about a Maasai? Is there a sin if Chuma cha Reli becomes governor?” Ali posed.

Ali calls himself ‘Chuma Cha Reli’, Swahili for the railway line, which metaphorically means a person small in stature but who has a lot of strength the same way the railway line is thin but can withstand the weight of a train.

“Tell them we are not going anywhere, we will fight it out here on the ground,” Ali said.