Joho tells off Nyali MP Mohamed Ali on port deal

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho has told off Nyali MP Mohammed Ali following calls to have him probed over a lucrative cargo terminal deal.

Mr Joho on Thursday criticised leaders who are opposing his move to support the government’s project terming them as ‘backstabbers’ who only want to benefit themselves.

He was reacting to Mr Ali’s remarks in which he accused the Joho family of solely gaining from standard gauge railway (SGR) deals as the region’s residents and businesses lose their livelihoods.

Mr Ali claimed the county boss and his kin are benefiting from the misfortunes of many traders and Mombasa residents who have lost jobs at the port due to the radical implementation of the use of SGR trains by importers.

The Nyali MP called on the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to investigate the deal.

COLLABORATION

But in a rejoinder, Mr Joho maintained that there is need for coast leaders to work together and to clarify the matter to avoid misinformation.

“Most of us are where we are because of sacrifice; hence we are calling on our haters to come and work with us for the benefit of locals,” said the county boss.

At the same time, he challenged government agencies at the Port of Mombasa to remove existing business bottlenecks and engage the business community to entice them to work more with the port.

Governor Joho accused three government agencies dealing directly with imported cargo of frustrating importers instead of making it easy for them do business.

“We are asking Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Kenya Bureau of Standards (KeBS) to reduce business bottlenecks and threats at the Port of Mombasa to make it easy for people to do business,” he said.

EFFICIENCY

Speaking during the official opening of the Mombasa International Show by President Uhuru Kenyatta, the county boss said it has been difficult to import, especially consolidated cargo, due to intensive per-verification exercises conducted by the agencies.

“We appreciate the President for reducing the number of agencies handling cargo at the Port of Mombasa, but we still have problems with some officials and we do not want to disturb you to intervene; but we ask the authorities to improve efficiency so that we can do business and pay more taxes,” said Mr Joho.

He added: “We want the three agencies to invest in technology and work professionally to observe standards without compromise. We hope our tomorrow meeting with you (President) we shall address this more.”