President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto address residents in Mombasa, July 16, 2017. [Photo: PSCU]
President Uhuru Kenyatta has criticised governor Ali Hassan Joho of Mombasa, for allegedly engaging in ignorance with claims that the government wants to relocate the port of Mombasa to Naivasha.
He said the Mombasa port will expand and more ships will use it following the launch of the Standard Gauge Railway, contrary to allegations by some local leaders.
Joho has been accusing the government of planning to relocate port services from the Mombasa, after Uhuru announced that his administration would build a dry port in Naivasha, Nakiuru County.
Joho, who is in the Opposition, Nasa, said the move was properly planned, so as to benefit Uhuru's family, and would see thousands of jobs lost at the port.
However, Uhuru said his aim is to ease port services in Mombasa.
Speaking in Mombasa durong a Jubilee Party campaign tour, Deputy President William Ruto said Naivasha would become an industrial city and the dry port would serve the factories that will be set up in the Special Economic Zone.
“There is a difference between a port and an industrial town and anyone who does not understand that should know that education is now free. They can go back to school and learn,” said the DP.