Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho at a past event. [Photo/ citizentv.co.ke]
One thing that strikes anyone when the name of the Mombasa County Governor Ali Hassan Joho is mentioned is controversy. From one scandal to another, attracting the attention of the media has become the order of the day for the outspoken governor.
So who really is Hassan Joho?
Born on February 26, 1976 in the port city of Mombasa, Joho attended Tom Mboya Primary before joining Serani Boys secondary school. After the successful completion of his secondary education, Joho enrolled at Kampala University where he undertook a bachelor's degree in Human Resource Management and has currently enrolled for a master's in Business Administration.
The Mombasa governor has risen politically from an amateur who once contested for the Kisauni member of parliament and lost in 2002, to a self-made politician who made his first appearance in the house of assembly in 2007, and now call shots both at the county government as a governor and the national politics as the deputy party leader of the single most biggest political party in the country ODM.
Joho enjoys bragging rights as the first governor of county 001 after he was elected in the 2013 general election, with over 132,586 votes and was sworn in on March 27, the same year.
He has recently been the topic in everyone’s mouth considering his association with Cord leader Raila Odinga and more so after he directly choose to blast President Uhuru Kenyatta on his Coastal tour early this month after he insinuated that the president had ignored him even after being in the county for 16 days, utterances that made him knock horns with Nairobi Senator, Mike Sonko, who is a great critique of the governor.
His woes deepened further after spearheading the Malindi by-election which took place on the March 7, where he put on a spirited fight that saw him deliver the seat to his party ODM.
Of course, all this shoulder rubbing with the government has had a little price to pay as the governor is now embattled, after businesses associated with his family were closed down during the recent stand-off between him and the Ministry of Internal Security, whereby his security details were reduced and the minister instructed him to surrender his firearms.
But as they say, politics has its own price to pay and in politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends, love him or hate him, this man Joho is a self-made political giant.
He was, he is, and he will forever be a history maker in the coastal politics.