Hassan Omar declares support for President Kenyatta

Former Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar, a leading figure in Mombasa politics, today announced he would campaign for President Uhuru Kenyatta to win the fresh October 26 presidential election.

Mr Omar said he made the decision to support President Kenyatta after realising that the alternative Kenyans have was ill-equipped to grow the country because of poor development credentials.

He said he had lost trust in the leading figures of the opposition when they hounded the former commissioners of the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission over fabricated claims, as well as a tendency towards chicanery.

“We cannot have a situation where (Former Prime Minister) Raila (Odinga) is President of Kenya and where (Ali Hassan) Joho is the governor of Mombasa. It is a traumatic prospect,” said Omar as he called on the residents of Mombasa to “wake up from slumber” and realise that the port city is being ruined by incompetent leadership.

Omar made his announcement at Serani Boys School in Mombasa city where government issued title deeds to five institutions that have been struggling to get ownership documents for the last hundred years.

The President witnessed the issuance of title deeds to Serani Primary School, Mbaraki Secondary School, Mbaraki Nursery School, Serani Sports Ground and land belonging to the Bohra Community. The institutions have been battling attempts by prominent people to grab their land for the last many decades and leaders thanked President Kenyatta for moving swiftly to ensure the titles are issued when he was informed of the struggle.

President Kenyatta outlined a list of initiatives taken by his government over the last four-and-a-half years to deliver transformative change to the Coastal counties, including the building of roads, the construction of dams, delivery title deeds, delivery of electricities to homes in the region, and increased cash hand outs to cushion the elderly from the vagaries of age.

President Kenyatta said the issuing of titles to the five institutions was part of his policy to correct past injustices through concrete actions. More than 3 million titles have been issued to Kenyans during the president’s term of office, including a tenth from the Coastal counties.

The President said all he wished for was a peaceful Kenyan nation, growing on the back of investment and hard work by its leaders.

That resolve had been tested by the Supreme Court’s decision to annul the Aug 8 presidential election. President Kenyatta said he understood the political opposition had expected he would refuse to accept the result, allowing them to spark violence and bloodshed as their short-cut to a negotiated power-sharing agreement.

The President said fixing challenges faced by Kenyans in their daily lives was what he was committed to.

The President spoke at an event attended by more than 20,000 Muslim delegates.

Moving speeches were made by prominent leaders including Sheikh Khalifa who said the opposition has nothing to offer Kenyans and especially the people of the coast region.

He said President Kenyatta has put the management of the Kenya Ports Authority and the Kenya Ferry Services in the hands of individuals who hail from the coast region.

“The Jubilee Government has bought two new ferries to serve the people of Mombasa and has started services at Mtongwe. They have built the standard gauge railway that takes only four hours to reach Nairobi. Now they are going to build another railway that will run from Lamu to Mombasa. They have built the road from Witu to Lamu Mkongwe. What more do we want?,” the prominent religious leader said.

He said the opposition had failed to deliver anything to the people of the region for the many years that they served in Government.

“We will not support people who have the characteristics of mosquitoes. They bring malaria, dengue fever and other diseases. We want to follow the bee. The bee produces honey after visiting different plants,” said Sheikh Khalifa.

“President Kenyatta is like a bee while Raila is like a mosquito. We are better off with the bee.”

Lamu Governor Fahim Twaha said some of the leading figures aided the grabbing of more than one million acres of land in Lamu County during the coalition government’s time.

Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya said the people of the region want leaders who can solve their problems through actions and have no interest dealing with people who specialize in creating problems.
ENDS….