Joho denies Mombasa County received Sh40bn

Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho on Tuesday mobilised his allies at the Coast to defend him after being reprimanded and told off by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Mr Joho also denied that his county had received Sh40 billion from the national government over the last four years.

He said his county had only got Sh17 billion in the last four years.

“It has come to my attention, as is widely reported in media outlets, statements attributed to the President of Kenya, to the effect that Mombasa County Government is the beneficiary of a collective Sh40 billion in national disbursements since the onset of devolution,” he said in a statement.

“However, we seem aware of only the following exchequer issues in equitable share and conditional grants since the inception of devolution,” added the Governor.

The statement showed that the county received Sh3, 550,298,289 in the 2013/14 financial year and subsequent allocations of Sh4, 748,690,119, Sh5,600,804,835 and Sh3,499,293,348 bringing the total to Sh16,396,501,522.

“We would like to humbly request verification and clarification of the said amounts. We also request the immediate disbursement of the Sh23,603,498,478 billion in pending accounts. This will go a long way in solving our urgent development challenges,” he said.

MTONGWE FERRY LAUNCH

On Monday, the governor was barred from attending the launch of the Mtongwe Ferry presided by President Kenyatta and deputy William Ruto .

Governors Jeff Amason Kingi (Kilifi) and John Mruttu (Taita Taveta) said it was wrong for the police to prevent Mr Joho from attending a presidential function in his county. Speaking in Kilifi, Mr Kingi said he was shocked by the President’s remarks that Mr Joho should not follow him around like he was his wife.

In Voi, Governor Mruttu accused President Kenyatta and Mr Ruto of using national government projects to earn political mileage.

Mr Mruttu alleged that the two leaders shunned him during their tour to Taita Taveta County to launch projects on Saturday last week.

But Mr Joho’s rival, Jubilee’s aspirant Suleiman Shahbal and his running mate Ananiah Mwaboza said the party would push to have the governor held to account over the use of public funds.

DIVERSIONARY TACTICS

Addressing the press at Jubilee’s Nyali office, Mr Shahbal accused the governor of failing to perform and using diversionary tactics to hide his shortcomings.

“We want Governor Joho to tell the people what the Sh40 billion did in the last four years,” he said.

He accused the governor of withdrawing traffic marshals to create a traffic jam in Mombasa on Monday, allegations that Mr Joho denied.

Mr Shahbal also rubbished Mr Joho’s allegations that the national government had not carried out any projects in Mombasa and the Coast.

“The President yesterday (Monday) opened six projects including launching the Mtongwe ferry services, Samburu and Bamba roads, Nyalani Dam in Kwale and the airport flyover in Mombasa,” he said.

—Reports by Mohamed Ahmed, Kazungu Samuel, Gitonga Marete and Lucy Mkanyika