Attend banned group’s meetings at your own peril, residents warned

Coast residents have been warned against attending meetings organised by the outlawed Mombasa Republican Council.

Msambweni MP Omar Mbwana Zonga told them that such meetings were unlawful and those in attendance risked arrest.

Mr Zonga, whose constituency in Kwale County is believed to be the centre of MRC activities, urged Coast residents to keep off the banned group.

The legislator was addressing the public during celebrations to mark the World Malaria Day on Wednesday.

“The so-called memorandum with the Queen of England, Sultan of Zanzibar and the late Mzee Jomo Kenyatta purported to mean that Coast will be handed over to its people as an independent state is a pipe dream,” said the MP.

He added: “No Queen will come, no agreement will be fulfilled and nothing will happen. My people should focus on development and not this nonsense,” he said.

He said he was opposed to MRC’s stand that residents should not vote in the next General Election.

“Participate fully in voting when the time comes. This is the only way we shall elect good leaders. We should fight for whatever we want within the law,” he said.

Mr Zonga said he fully supports the demands for land rights and ownership of local resources.

He disclosed that local MPs under the Coast Parliamentary Group would meet this week over the proscribed group.

Separately, Wundanyi MP Thomas Mwadeghu urged the government to address the grievances raised by the MRC to avoid future confrontations.

Mr Mwadeghu said he did not support MRC’s calls for secession but agreed with other issues it has raised.

“Much as it is an outlawed organisation, MRC raises pertinent issues like land rights and the historical injustices against the coastal people,” he said on Thursday.

The MP said the grievances by the coastal communities were genuine and avoiding them would provoke more trouble.

He asked the government to address landlessness, poor infrastructure, unemployment and equitable sharing of available resources in the region to silence dissenting voices.

“Had these issues been taken into consideration when they began to emerge, Mombasa Republican Council would not have been formed,” he said.

He was speaking in Voi town after attending a meeting to educate local leaders and aspirants on the Political Parties Act by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries commission.