Kilifi County Governor Amason Kingi has revealed a new reason as to why President Uhuru Kenyatta has been attacking him and his Mombasa counterpart Ali Hassan Joho.
Governor Kingi was quoted by a local daily stating that the rivalry between them and the President began after they refused "to be seduced by Jubilee" in 2013.
The Governor explained that in 2013, a group of leaders from the Coast was summoned to Deputy President William Ruto's Karen residence where they were asked to ditch the ODM and join the Jubilee Alliance.
Kingi indicated that the delegation made up of coastal lawmakers Gideon Mung’aro, Aisha Jumwa, Mustafa Idd, Khatib Mwashetani, Mishi Mboko and Suleiman Dori.
According to the Kilifi Governor, they were allegedly asked to help the Jubilee get a niche in the coast but he and Joho refused.
"We told them to their face that it is only through development projects that coast residents can join Jubilee, but they insisted and tried to bribe us,” Kingi was quoted by the Standard.
He further indicated that a section of leaders went back to meet the Jubilee leaders where he alleged that money changed hands after which the politicians joined Jubilee.
DP Ruto’s spokesman David Mugonyi, however, rubbished Kingi’s claims, stating that, "the meeting is a figment of his imagination. I am not aware of such a meeting ever taking place.”
The President and the two governors have been engaged in a bitter exchange in the past few weeks with each party accusing the other of failing to deliver to the electorate.
Earlier this month, President Kenyatta while in a tour of Kilifi County noted that he would arrest Kingi if re-elected in August.
Kingi on his part noted that Uhuru was campaigning on lies and propaganda.
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