Details have emerged indicating how Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho was almost installed as a Muslim Imam after he passionately fought radicalism at the Masjid Musa mosque in 2014.
The Governor, while addressing a forum on preventing Violent Extremism in Mombasa, revealed that in 2014 when there was heightened violent extremism in the Coast, he put his political career on the line to help restore peace between Muslims and Christians in Mombasa.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Deputy Party Leader explained that during the mosque raids, no one wanted to take responsibility of the mosque because they feared for their lives.
"Therefore, I made a decision that it is not and cannot be Islamic to keep quiet while lives are lost. It dawned on me that we must co-exist. We don’t have a choice," Joho stated.
Mvita Member of Parliament Abdulswamad Nassir stated that when people turned down offers to run the mosque, the leaders wanted to take over the mosque and install him as the muezzin, Joho as the Imam and Senator Hassan Omar the gatekeeper.
"That was how far matters went, and that is when elders agreed to take over the mosque on condition they would be provided with security. Today, I walk in and out of the mosque anytime I want to pray, freely and happily because that is who we are," Nassir stated.
Governor Joho also explained that while fighting extremism, he was barred from accessing the mosque after announcing he would help rebuild a church that had been destroyed by unknown assailants.
"Naturally, I expected backlash from some of our people. But [that was] ignorance, at Musa, they used to name me and say I was their 'Kuffar' number one," Joho stated.
He further explained of a day when furious youth tried to harass him while he drove along Majengo streets on claims that he was not one of them.
"I was spotted by some youths who were sitting outside the mosque. They shouted ‘Wewe Kafiri! (You Kafir)’. I told the boys off saying they could not judge me. I told them they might find me in heaven and themselves in hell on judgment day," the Mombasa Governor noted.
The leaders were speaking in Mombasa while attending the launch of the Mombasa County Action Plan for Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (MCAP-PCVE).
