Jubilee party leaders from the Port City of Mombasa are a sad lot over reports that President Uhuru Kenyatta has neglected the region’s leaders at the expense of Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho.
The leaders wondered why the president choose to embrace the city’s governor who was a one-time fierce critic of the ruling party saying that Joho had no time for Jubilee followers and was busy thriving at stopping William Ruto from ascending to the presidency.
Joho, it is claimed, wants to wipe out Jubilee support in the county to lock out William Ruto from inheriting the existing party structures, machinery and support. The leaders said that Joho was a hypocrite who pretends to be supporting the handshake at the same time fighting other leaders from within.
The members are crying foul, saying Uhuru betrayed them after he entered into a working relationship with the governor whom they had been fighting ahead of the 2017 general elections. He, on the other hand, abused the president left, right and centre.
“Uhuru has betrayed us. We fought hard for his re-election as Joho and others tried every trick in the book to spoil his chances. But surprisingly, the Mombasa governor is now the most trusted supporter of the president in Mombasa and those who stood with him at his hour of need have been reduced to mere spectators,” lamented Omar Kassim
The leaders observed that Uhuru should not forget where he came from insisting that he should remain loyal to the party’s structures at the same time keeping his promise of supporting deputy President William Ruto in 2022.
Kassim said it is disheartening to see cartels that fought the Jubilee administration being accorded job and business opportunities at the expense of genuine supporters who have stood with Uhuru since 2013 general elections.
“Where is fairness? We keep hearing how Joho has landed an SGR contract worth billions of shillings while Jubilee supporters are languishing in joblessness and poverty. After winning, the president says he has no time for politics, this is escapist. Former president Moi never forgot those who stood with him,” he said
According to Kassim, if a referendum is held, the majority of the Jubilee supporters in Mombasa will side with Ruto as a protest over the manner in which Uhuru has treated his Mombasa supporters.
He said it is only Tourism CS Najib Balala who has enjoyed the “fruits” of Jubilee yet he did not work as hard as many business people who offered their resources and time to defend and seek votes for Jubilee.
“Ruto has demonstrated that he never forgets his friends and those who stand with him. He knows how to appreciate like Moi. This is why Jubilee support base in Mombasa will automatically shift to him when the time comes. At various private gatherings, people have vowed never to vote for Uhuru or his preferred successor,” Kassim further pointed out.
In various parastatal appointments in the last few months, Mombasa has largely been ignored except a few appointments made by Balala which were criticised as having favoured his close family members.
Joho has been consolidating his support towards the next general elections by reaching out to his former Jubilee opponents Suleiman Shahbal and Balala both of whom he has promised to support to take over from him.
The county chief has announced his intention to contest for the presidency but many think this is a mere strategy to make himself relevant in a post-Uhuru era
William Ruto’s quest to occupy Statehouse in 2022 has so far received a major backing after members allied to the NASA coalition from the coastal region said they will support his bid.
Some of the leaders who have vowed to stand with Ruto include Taita Taveta Governor Granton Samboja and MPs Ali Mbogo (Kisauni) Aisha Jumwa (Malindi), Jones Mlolwa (Voi), and Danson Mwashako (Wundanyi) among others.