President Uhuru Kenyatta. [Photo/standardmedia.co.ke]
In his second term, the newly-inaugurated President Uhuru Kenyatta will have to contend with a coastal region that feels that his administration has not taken it's concerns and issues seriously.
The region's leaders led by Mombasa governor, Ali Hassan Joho, have made public their intentions to secede over what they say are injustices meted out to the coastal people by successive governments.
One of the issues that have fueled this sense of grievance is the land question; many coastal people are squatters.
That is an issue that the residents want the Kenyatta second-term administration to address.
''We are requesting the President to look into the land question critically and offer solutions. His gesture of giving out title deeds is good but it doesn't go far enough.'' Idriss Mwanyumba, a resident of Mombasa, says.
Residents want squatters to be resettled and that that can only happen with a coherent resettlement policy.
The residents also want the government to creating employment opportunity for them by building industries in the region and resuscitating struggling industries.
A task force found that the region's farmers, especially coconut farmers, had been neglected and, therefore, supporting the region's farmers is something that many want to see Uhuru's government do.