Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho addresses residents of Mkomani when he campaigned in the area on Wednesday. [Photo: Hassan Joho/ facebook.com]
Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has for the first time thrown a jab at opponents telling them to prepare to join him in celebrating his victory after the August election.
Joho said the party to celebrate his victory will be open to all Mombasa residents and that he will use the occasion to extend an olive branch to his political rivals to embrace his transformative leadership as he seeks to effectively serve Mombasa people.The governor who has launched a vigorous campaign to secure a second term defended his development record, and rubbished accusations by his challengers that he had mismanaged the Sh40 billion sent by the national Treasury to Mombasa.“In my engagement with the people I will take stock of the development projects implemented so far in Mombasa as well as the challenges to be tacked,” he said on Wednesday at Mkomani.“As I urge the people of Mkomani to vote peacefully and responsibly in the upcoming general election, I want to assure Mombasa residents that the NASA coalition will stand firm in defending their rights.”Joho has been under pressure to explain how he spent the Sh40 billion disbursed by the national government to Mombasa County.His challengers- Suleiman Shahbal (Jubilee Party), Omar Hassan (Wiper) and Hezron Awiti (VDP) fault him for spending most of his time in running family businesses at the expense of developing the county and transforming locals’ lives.On Wednesday when he was in Mkomani, Shahbal was in Bamburi campaigning.“I toured Bamburi where I witnessed grappling challenges the residents face. There are no accessible roads. No clean water and insecurity is the order of the day. These are all failures by the current administration. But all this will change when my government takes office,” said Shahbal.Joho, however, said during his first term in office, the county government had constructed over 58 kilometres of cabro-standard roads.He also toured Nyali and Likoni Sub Counties where he commissioned the construction of the Mtopanga Gas Field-Kwabulo road and the Msikiti Noor-Mtaa wa Makaa roads respectively.“We will continue to expand road network in Mombasa County to improve accessibility to markets and essential services,” said the county chief.