Mombasa County Commissioner Marwa and Transport PS in public spat over ferry saga

KENYA: Mombasa County Commissioner Nelson Marwa Friday launched a stinging rebuke against Transport PS John Musonik over ferry services inefficiencies at the Likoni crossing channel.

In an unprecedented public tiff between two state officers, Marwa said he will not be intimidated by the PS to stop his push for the sack of top officials at Kenya Ferry Services (KFS) over alleged ineptness and corruption.

On Wednesday, Musonik, who toured the KFS offices in Likoni, defended managing director Musa Hassan against accusations of incompetence and corruption at the institution. The PS accused Marwa of intimidating other civil servants, saying those blaming the MD for the glitches were ignorant.

“KFS reports to the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure where I sit. Any grievance or issues that touch on operational glitches should be made available to me as principal secretary. Any kind of utterances from any quarters regarding ferry operations will not be tolerated,” said Musonik.

But Marwa said he was surprised that the PS came to the defence of Hassan despite glaring incompetence and corruption that has run down ferry services putting thousands of commuters crossing the channel at risk.

“There is more evidence which I am ready to adduce before the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) regarding runaway corruption at the KFS,’’ said Marwa.

He accused the PS of being inhumane by defending KFS officials instead of offering a public apology to those injured in a stampede on Monday.

Eight people, including school children, were injured in a stampede at the Likoni channel following a rush to board the ferries. The stampede was blamed on shortage of ferries at the Likoni channel since Friday last week.

Grand corruption

“KFS operations cannot be micro-managed from Nairobi when we are just watching. I have tangible evidence of grand corruption bedevilling ferry operations. People were injured in the Monday stampede, including a form four candidate who had to sit for her examination paper at the Coast Provincial General Hospital,” Marwa said.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary committee on Transport yesterday toured the facility and announced it will probe top officials over corruption allegations.

The committee questioned why KFS awarded a tender to build new ferries to an international firm while there are local firms capable of doing the job. They also raised concern over the public spat between Marwa and Musonik.

“It is unfortunate that this matter has been let to degenerate into such a public spat involving senior civil servants,’’ Maina Kamanda, the committee chairman and Starehe MP, said.

Ferries glitches has sparked fears among commuters over their safety. Tourism stakeholders have also reported losses due to delays at the channel.

On Friday, dozens of German tourists traveling from Kwale on the Kenyan south coast to board a plane at Moi International Airport in Mombasa missed their flight after being stranded at the ferry for hours.

Committee vice chairman Eng Mahmud Mohamed said the committee will seek answers from the KFS management on the tendering of two new ferries expected to be availed next year.

He said the committee would like to know whether local firms bid for the Sh1.2 billion tender.“The committee wants to know at what stage of the tendering process the local bidders lost out from the tender,” Eng Mahmud said. We have information that a local firm working in conjunction with a Dutch ship building firm has constructed a ferry which will be exported to Lake Albert right here in Mombasa.”