Kwale ODM, Jubilee politicians push campaigns against Mvurya

Jan. 23, 2017, 12:00 pm

By ALLOYS MUSYOKA, @k2musyoka

A file photo of Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya. .ELKANA JACOB

Several Jubilee and opposition politicians have continued their onslaught on Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya in the run-up to the August 8 poll.

Hassan Mwanyoha, county ODM chairperson, said Mvurya must account for all the money he has received in the past four and a half years.

“We want Mvurya to show us what he has done with the money, not just the few nursery schools [that have been opened]," said the Matuga MP.

Mwanyoha addressed a rally at Jogoo grounds on Sunday alongside several MCAs and governor aspirants.

He asked residents to register as voters to ensure Mvurya and the Jubilee administration are sent home.

Six county chief aspirants who are all in Cord have ganged up to defeat Mvurya. They say he has failed the county in his first term in office.

In apparent criticism of Mvurya, Kwale woman representative Zainab Chidzuga (Jubilee) said a politician joined Jubilee but was ashamed of campaigning for President Uhuru Kenyatta.

“If you joined Jubilee and you fear mentioning your President’s name in your campaigns then you are not in Jubilee,” she told a meeting in Kikoneni.

Chidzuga has allegedly been campaigning for ODM governor aspirant Chirau Mwakwere. She denied the reports saying those spreading the propaganda were elected leaders who had "sensed defeat".

Read: I don’t dream of going back to ODM, Kwale woman rep Chidzuga tells rivals

Also read: I’m not supporting Mwakwere, Ruwa, says Chidzuga

Tiwi MCA Omar Mwakwambirizwa said Kwale county was more marginalised than ever since Mvurya joined the ruling coalition.

He cautioned the Governor against taking credit for the Sh400 million bursary fund, insisting it is the Kwale assembly that came up with the law after Mvurya said the 20 wards should get Sh1 million each.

Gombato MCA Omar Boga criticised the government saying: “Jubilee said they will expand the airstrip, they haven’t. They said they will tarmac Kinango-Samburu, Lungalunga-Vanga and Shimoni roads, have they constructed?”

Nicholas Zani, governor aspirant and ODM deputy chairperson, said Mvurya should have supported the Okoa Kenya initiative instead of "going to Jubilee to look for cash".

“Kwale has received Sh7 billion which means every ward should get at least Sh300 million. But we have not seen the funds,” said Zani.

But Kauli Mwembe, Mvurya's communications director, dismissed the criticism as "cheap politics".

“Only the blind will not see what he has done. It is cheap politics to only look at nursery schools," he told the Star by phone. "We have built boreholes... development in our health sector is also visible. And who said Kwale children do not deserve ECDCs?”

Mwembe added that bursaries were Mvurya’s brainchild but had to go through the assembly for ratification.