Mombasa County Governor Ali Hassan Joho on Wednesday accused President Uhuru Kenyatta of planning to kill the city of Mombasa by mortgaging as a guarantee for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project loan.
While addressing the media in Mombasa, the Governor noted that the SGR project was not a bad project but the fact that President Kenyatta's administration had inflated the cost of the project making it super expensive and forcing Kenyans into more debts was the big issue.
"That a modern railway was due in Kenya is not the question. The problem is that the obscene inflation of the price under Jubilee has made it too expensive for Kenya.
"To cater for this cost, the Jubilee administration has had to provide a number of guarantees to ensure the réalisation of this project. Key amongst the guarantees is that they have mortgaged the economic future of Mombasa. The port of Mombasa. Our birthright," Joho stated.
The Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) deputy party leader explained that when the project was conceived by former President Mwai Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga administration, it was a moment full of joy and promise for Kenya. He, however, noted that with the Jubilee administration the SGR project had become a liability for Kenyans.
"It has now become a bitter pill to swallow. Especially for the coastal people's and Mombasa. When the Jubilee regime came to power, their ascension became our misery. The best of their time is now the worst of ours. Their "spring of hope" has become our 'winter of despair'," Joho lamented.
The Governor further noted that with the SGR Mombasa was a city at risk stating that it would kill the city and take away its birthright the Port of Mombasa.
"We would like the people of Kenya to know, we are a city at risk. Not only have they concessioned away the port of Mombasa in secret, the SGR will kill the city. Like the children of the biblical Isaac, one of us has sold his brother's birthright," he stated.
The Governor issued President Kenyatta's administration with tough demands stating that they should open up and tell Kenyans all they need to know about the SGR.
Joho mentioned that the future of the city was in the hands of the people of Mombasa and urged them to vote for the National Super Alliance(NASA) on August 8 2017 to safeguard the city.
The Governor made the comments a few hours after he had been blocked from the launch of the SGR by President Kenyatta in Miritini Mombasa County.
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Here is a full statement:
