After failing the Capital, is Mike Sonko now fit to run Mombasa?

Nairobi and Mombasa are two of Kenya’s largest cities. Both are gateways into the country and the wider East Africa region. Nairobi has Kenya’s largest airport with close to 12 million passengers passing through annually. Mombasa discharges all cargo brought in by sea not only for Kenya but also for its landlocked neighbours. Both lend their names eponymously to the counties within which they are domiciled. But that is as far as their similarities go.

Nairobi is the centre of action. Fast, throbbing, and lively, it has the hurried feel of the global North’s busy capitals together with all attendant virtues and vices. It is also the administrative capital of the country with the heads of the three arms of government resident here. Nairobi is slowly becoming the financial centre of the region with major local and international banks represented. It is the automatic first port of call for investors in the region.