Jubilee lobby launches with warning shot to the opposition over region

Kinango MP Samuel Gonzi Rai on Saturday dismissed an assertion that Coast region was an opposition stronghold, saying this would be proven at the polls next year.

Mr Rai, speaking to a newly formed lobby, Coast Jubilee Movement (CJM), at Star of the Sea High School hall, said the perception being created by Cord was meant to hoodwink residents into believing they were the “messiahs”.

“We are warning the opposition that Coast is now a Jubilee Party zone and they can no longer claim that they own or command the majority of votes here,” he added.

According to the MP, time had come for the opposition leadership to brace for a bruising battle in the General Election.

Mr Rai told the group spread throughout the six counties to start rigorous campaigns in their backyards for the ruling party.

“The political wind is changing fast and many coastal residents are defecting to the ruling coalition to realise development,” he said.

Explaining their goals, CJM secretary-general Ali Salim said they would conduct grassroots civic education so as to overturn a voting pattern that has in the recent past favoured the opposition.

“We will hit the ground running in Mombasa, Kwale, Kilifi, Lamu, Tana River and Taita Taveta and change the erroneous perception once and for all,” he said.

The movement has a network of close to 30,000 members across the region with 20 officials for each of the county boards to oversight their activities.

“The 20-member team in each county will be tasked with conducting mass civic education up to village level with the aim of shifting voting patterns,” he said.

The Kinango MP termed the movement a new dawn to end the dominance of the opposition, which he said has contributed to the backwardness of the region.

“What President Uhuru Kenyatta has done for us in the last four years is a sign that there are more goodies on the way; we will not allow our people to remain in the opposition where we are expecting nothing,” he said.

NOTHING TO OFFER
Bragging of more than a decade of experience in the political arena, the politician said the next General Election would be a walkover for the President and his party.

“We beat them in 2013, we are expecting the same next year. I will mobilise support for the government and I assure you that you will be part of the government,” he said.

He urged the residents to register as voters and vote for President Kenyatta, saying he will intervene to help them reclaim land taken away from them.

“Within four years we have seen more than 20,000 title deeds issued; they claimed Mr Kenyatta will grab land, has he grabbed any land from you? he asked.

The lobby’s chairperson, Ms Amina Abdalla, said the region has been lagging behind in terms of development because of being “outside the government”.

“We want to embark on civic education so that we can change people’s mindset, our people have been brainwashed to blindly support the opposition year in year out,” she said.

She said most of the coastal counties are being controlled by opposition that has nothing to offer to the residents.

“But with the newly formed movement, we expect to sweep between 800,000 and 900,000 votes in the August 8, 2017 General Election,” she said.

Ms Abdalla added that even with the formation of the county governments, it was important that the leadership of the various counties work closely with the national government.

She said the movement is targeting to sweep at least 80 per cent of the elective posts in the region.