Governor Hassan Joho faces rough and tumble of Coast politics

Cord Leader Raila Odinga, flanked by among others Mombasa Senator Omar Hassan Sarai and Mombasa Governor Hassan Ali Joho joins other Muslims in breaking fast at the Serani Grounds in Mombasa during the fasting month of Ramadhan. [PHOTO: MAARUFU MOHAMED/STANDARD]

MOMBASA COUNTY: July and August have not been rosy for Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho.

Despite his political acumen and financial muscle, Joho remains influential in ODM but retains strong enemies within CORD, Jubilee and the business community.

Soon after a long-drawn spat with County Commissioner Nelson Marwa, some of Joho’s top allies have been ousted at the Mombasa County Assembly.

According to an aide, there are those who “plot day and night separately or in collusion against our governor.”

Some of his aides have accused Jubilee operatives of relentlessly targeting to distract and oust him by withholding money or trying to buy key officials in the County Assembly.

Whenever the governor makes amends and appears to go strong on one front, new cracks emerge.

Local MPs have, for instance, taken issue with the manner in which some MCAs were nominated, how Joho named his Executive Committee and how the Mombasa County Public Service Board was constituted. While his allies say he is making efforts to reconcile with his rivals for the sake of harmony in Mombasa, deep-seated political enmity remains. Insiders say CORD leader and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga is now pushing for reconciliation between Joho and his rivals. The Mombasa governor is Raila’s point man in the region.

The governor is now facing a go-slow by health workers following delays in payment of July salaries. The crisis emerged when Joho rejected the 2014/2015 budget of Sh12 billion passed by the County Assembly and sent it back with recommendations to reduce expenditure in line with recommendations of the Controller of Budget.

Mombasa is among counties that have not received disbursement from the Treasury to pay its 4,600 workers their July salaries. To Joho’s chagrin, the situation has been reminiscent of the early days when 2,600 workers of the defunct Mombasa Municipal Council staged a go-slow forcing him to move to the Industrial Court to quell the trouble.

But it was the budget referral that came as a shocker to the County Assembly that Joho largely controls. In a memorandum, Joho asked the assembly to cut its budget by Sh328 million. He sought to trim it from Sh857,657,329 to Sh529,637,329, leading to protests from some MCAs and sparking a new row.

Reduced budget

But County Secretary Hamisi Mwaguya downplayed the impact of the budget row saying the assembly was reviewing the budget it had passed and it was not the cause of delayed pay for the county workers, whose monthly wage bill stands at Sh320 million.

“We expect a minimum Sh380 million as the first disbursement. We should pay the workers within 10 days,” Mwaguya added.

The budget row emerged Joho suffered a major political blow when the assembly ousted his ally Khamis Ali Mwabashiri as the Leader of Majority and replaced him with Likoni ward rep Abdalla Kasagamba.

Joho was believed to be grooming Mwabashiri to take on Kisauni MP Rashid Juma Bedzimba, who had himself drifted from Joho’s camp months ago. Lately, Bedzimba has appeared with Joho in some functions and also met Raila in his Coast tours.

At the same time, Joho was handed another political blow when the County Assembly impeached the County Executive member for Finance Walid Khalid over alleged incompetence.

This forced Joho to replace him with Sports executive member Hazel Koitaba in an acting capacity.

Mr Joho’s political advisor Major (Rtd) Abdulrahman Idris denied claims that the ouster and impeachment were done with the governor’s blessings in trying to mend fences and win his rivals’ support. “The governor was not involved in any way in what happened at the County Assembly. He had no issues at all with Khalid and Mwabashiri,” he said.

However, immediately after the ouster of the two, Bedzimba announced publicly he would reconcile the governor with Likoni MP Masoud Mwahima, Nyali’s Awiti Bolo and Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir as well as the Mombasa County Commissioner.

Call for unity

“I am going to lead the reconciliation of the governor and MPs in Mombasa as well as the county commissioner to ensure leaders unite for good. I will talk to Mwahima because he is my friend,” Bedzimba said.

Sources said Raila was pushing for the reconciliation to strengthen his team ahead of the referendum. Mwahima, Mombasa Senator Hassan Omar and women rep Mishi Mboko hosted Raila in Likoni last Sunday where he attended a church services and visited victims of the recent terror attacks at Soweto village. Mwahima confirmed he had sharply differed with Joho over the manner in which the latter appointed 10 County Executive Committee members and the nomination of 15 MCAs.

Mwahima confirmed Bedzimba and 50 elders from all the 30 wards in Mombasa County have been sent to talk to him and reconcile him with the governor.

The legislator, however, said he would insist on getting a share of the Executive Committee membership and nominations of MCAs “because that was a right of Likoni people”.

“The governor appointed and nominated only his cronies and forgot about Likoni and that is why we differed. My my area voted 100 percent for ODM in the last General Election. I want justice to be done to the people of Likoni,” Mwahima said. Sources said Mwahima had demanded at least one slot of a County Executive Committee member and two nominations for MCAs.

Mwahima could be eying the positions occasioned by the sacking of Mr Khalid and the recent death of two nominated MCAs. Other allies said Mwahima has also protested after the appointment of 11 members of the County Public Service Board without being consulted.

Sources close to Joho, however, explained that the list of nominated MCAs had been sent to Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission before elections and that the governor had no control over who was nominated.

Nassir, however, denied he had a standoff with the governor, insisting he does not harbour ‘enmity or grudge with anybody.’

“I have not been seen publicly with the governor because each of us has been busy lately. I have no grudge with him or any other leader in the county to occasion mediation. It is not my leadership style to harbour grudges with people,” Nassir said.

Major Idris confirmed that the governor has also been making efforts to reconcile with other leaders to foster unity in the county.

“The governor has been making efforts to reconcile with Mwahima and other elected leaders to ensure unity,” Idris confirmed. At the weekend, Joho was reported to have travelled abroad.

Senator Omar, who is a close ally of the governor, dismissed the differences between Joho and other leaders as ‘minor’ saying democracy allows divergent views and that unity should be seen in terms of broader issues.

“Unity of any society should be based on more fundamental issues. Leaders cannot agreed on everything; this is not democracy,” the senator said.

Omar said differences in opinion are normal and healthy in any institution and should be encouraged instead of being viewed as a threat to development.