By James Wakahiu in Mombasa
Candidates vying for the Mvita Parliamentary seat in Mombasa County under the Azimio la Umoja Coalition stand a better chance of scooping the position in the previously ODM Party dominated zone, a recent poll released by Infotrack shows.
Located in the heart of Mombasa County, Mvita is the second most populous constituency in the coastal region, with 107,091 registered voters, according to IEBC’s 2017 voter register.
Mvita is a stronghold of ODM party and anyone on the ticket is deemed to already have one foot in Parliament.
The decision by outgoing Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir to vie for Mombasa governor’s seat has thrown wide open the contest by at least eight aspirants to replace him as the area MP.
With 48 per cent of the votes according to Ifotrak, Nassir has the best chance of beating his five close contestants for the gubernatorial seat, according to an Infotrak opinion poll released on Sunday. The latest Infotrak poll on awareness and popularity of gubernatorial aspirants showed businessman Suleiman Shahbal (ODM) following closely with 18 per cent, UDA’s Hassan Omar is at five per cent, Wiper’s Ali Mbogo at four per cent and William Kingi (ODM) at one per cent. However, 21 per cent of the voters are undecided.
Photo/Samata in a meet the people tour
In Mvita constituency, Raila Odinga of Azimio Coalition is the most preferred presidential candidate at 49 per cent followed by William Ruto at 33 per cent. Nassir is the leading candidate for governor in Mvita, with support from 62 per cent of his constituents, according to the Infotrak poll. This means his support is crucial to the eight pretenders to his throne, where a battle to replace him is raging.
They include the latest entrant, Samata Mohamed Issa Samata, a lawyer and businessman with vast investments in the area, including a factory. Samata is be battling with Mombasa transport executive Tawfiq Balala, former Mombasa mayor Rajab Sumba’s son Hassan Sumba, businessman Omar Shalo, Kanu board member Mohamed Samatar and political activist Mohamed ‘Tenge’ Salim. Others are Mombasa businessman Mohammed Soud Machele, Said Twaha and Ali Mwatsahu.
The area was devastated by the Covid-19 crisis which grounded transport and tourism business across the country from early 20120. Land documentation has remained a thorny issue here, just like in most of the Coast region.
The late Shariff Nassir, a Kanu stalwart and then President Daniel Moi’s ally represented the constituency for three terms until 1997 when he was ousted by Narc’s Najib Balala, the current Tourism Cabinet Secretary and brother to Tawfiq, who is widely expected to vie on an ODM ticket.
“Maybe people want me to vie. But I am working for the people of Mombasa at the moment, not just Mvita,” Tawfiq said.
According to Infotrak, about 50 per cent of Mvita residents say they were concerned about disputes between transporters and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), which resulted in massive unemployment in Mvita after road transport and warehouses workers lost their jobs, forcing restaurants guest houses to close.
Samata a lawyer by profession having graduated in a Masters in Law degree from the Queen Mary University of London, is vying on a Kenya African National Union (Kanu) ticket under the Azimio La Umoja Coalition. ”As the biggest employer in Mvita constituency for the last 15 years, I believe and understand the challenges especially in youth unemployment and am well placed to solve this problem,” noted the Politician.
He wants the national security machinery to follow through on acts of violence and incitement to ensure a democratic fair election. “If one citizen is killed then it’s not worth the election after all,” he adds.
He is a successful businessman with vast interests in manufacturing, recycling, garbage, brickets, packaging solutions, labour outsourcing and Recruitment Company.
One of his companies recently started online training jobs and has partnered with Ajira Kenya, with 67 women going through the training. By August, they hope to train 1000 people.
He plans to prioritise health where he is going to sponsor free NHIF for 40,000 Mvita Constituents from his own salary. ‘Am currently sponsoring a pilot programme, which is covering 3,000 people,” he says.
The aspirant has built two boreholes and projects by August he is going to do another eight, including 10 public toilets in Mvita Constituency.
”I will also ensure that all the social halls in the constituency have free Wi-Fi hotspots and will be used for tuition studies when schools have closed to keep the youth busy,” adds the Politician.
He adds that he will empower the youth to do community policing on matters of security and also expand the CDF kitty to cover bursary for university students because currently, it only covers upto secondary level of education.
Samata is already sponsoring one feeding station for the vulnerable people in the society where they give soup, milk and bread every Thursday of the week. The mobile feeding station goes through all the five wards in the constituency on a rotational basis and he will expand it to five stations once elected.
He says that most politicians are labeled liars, crooks which is a dangerous trend which has produced wrong leaders and we must propagate peaceful elections as life is sacred and stop the politicians using the poor public wrongly.
Businessman Shalo, previously in Jubilee, is now leaning more towards UDA where he will be battling with Mwatsahu and Twaha for the ticket to be the party’s flag bearer in Mvita. Mwatsahu insists he is more experienced in the political scene and will easily beat them. “These are still junior in politics. They cannot match me,” he said.
Shalo said he will ensure Mvita’s security is significantly improved while also economically empowering the youth and women.
Speaking at Majengo Hall where he was hosted for a luncheon by Mvita women, Machele said a youth movement in Mombasa convinced him to join politics. “I got into politics because of the push from my mothers, fathers and brothers and sisters. Today, I declare that I am firmly in the race for the Mvita MP seat in 2022,” Machele said.
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