Raila, Joho told to stop 'inciting' Waitiki Farm beneficiaries
CORD Leader Raila Odinga (left) flanked by former Chief Kadhi Hamad Kassim, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho and other Coastal leaders outside Huduma Centre Offices, Mombasa after launching Prof. Ali Mazrui Road on January 27, 2016. PHOTO | KEVIN ODIT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- Raila Odinga and Mombasa County Governor Hassan Joho have been criticised for “ inciting” beneficiaries of the Waitiki Farm not to pay for the land after receiving title deeds.
- Fuad Abdallah told the two leaders to go beyond mere words and visit the beneficiaries instead of using their plight for political gain.
- While opening Fidel Odinga Road in Mombasa last week, The Cord leader said it was wrong for the 5,000-plus squatters to be ‘forced’ to pay to own plots on the farm in Likoni.
Raila Odinga and Mombasa County Governor Hassan Joho have been criticised for “ inciting” beneficiaries of the Waitiki Farm not to pay for the land after receiving title deeds.
Speaking on phone on Sunday, the 70-man committee’s spokesman Fuad Abdallah told the two leaders to go beyond mere words and visit the beneficiaries instead of using their plight for political gain.
“Governor Joho should stop inciting us and instead come here (Waitiki Farm) to familiarise himself with our problems rather than import voices from elsewhere to tell us what to do,” he said.
While opening Fidel Odinga Road in Mombasa last week, The Cord leader said it was wrong for the 5,000-plus squatters to be ‘forced’ to pay to own plots on the farm in Likoni.
He supported the governor’s position that the squatters should not pay for the land. When presenting the titles on January 9, President Uhuru Kenyatta told the beneficiaries they would be required to pay Sh1,000 per month until they cleared the Sh182,000 each.
The money will be used to repay a loan that the Lands ministry took to buy the Waitiki land.
LAND RATES ARREARS
However, the spokesman challenged the County government to come clean over the Sh300 million land rates arrears owed by the farm’s previous owner saying waiving the amount could reduce the Sh182,000 they were paying.
“What is the county government doing to alleviate our woes in paying the amount?” he asked saying the governor should stop capitalising on their plight for political gains ahead of the 2017 elections.
Meanwhile, the renaming of New Nyali Road to Fidel Odinga Road has sparked mixed reactions with the governor coming under fire for ‘unilaterally’ changing the name without involving the public.
On Sunday, Likoni Sub-county Uwezo Fund chairman Salim Abdalla questioned the rationale of renaming the road after “somebody who does not have any historical or personal connection with the locals”.
He said: “Even if the governor wants political mileage, he should have consulted widely before making the decision’’.
The immediate former Mombasa Law Society of Kenya chairman Eric Nyongesa said although the naming of streets lacked clear legal guidelines, the public should have been involved.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
“For the governor to act on the best interest of his subjects, it would have been proper for him to engage public participation to be in sync with the constitution,” he said.
Another lawyer, Godfrey Mutubia, dismissed talk of the governor’s ‘executive order’ saying there was no such powers in Kenya’s legal system.
“There is nothing like executive powers in law and it is as simple as that”.
In his argument, the Pwani University lecturer Hassan Mwakimako noted that the road being a public utility, there was a process that should have been followed.
According to him, although it is the mandate of the County Government to name or rename streets, it should have been discussed in the County Assembly under specific guidelines.
