IT was reported in today's Sunday Standard under the heading "ODM to reward loyalists with nominations" on page 5 that one of those whose name has been forwarded to the Elections Commission for nomination as ODM MP is none other than immediate Mayor of Mombasa, Ahmed Muhdhar.
Since nominated MPS are distributed regionally, it can only mean that ODM Mombasa pointman, Hassan Ali Joho, now seeking to be the Governor of the county in the coming elections, is the one who submitted Muhdhar's name to Raila and the ODM Elections Board, and they approved it with other names including Janet Ongera and forwarded them to the Commission.
We, as people of Mombasa, suffered for five years under the worst civic administration in its history headed by Muhdhar.
We do not want this man to be involved again in the affairs of Mombasa County. He has never stood for any elections, relying on three civic nominations and now a parliamentary one. In other words, this man cannot dare face the Mombasa electorate because he knows they will reject him.
It is said that Joho relies heavily on Muhdhar - whom he calls "father" - for advice. If so, then clearly Joho has nothing to offer the people of Mombasa with good leadership ideas. He must be bankrupt of ideas if Muhdhar is his political mentor.
What does Muhdhar know about solving Mombasa's complex problems ? As a media man, I know a tremendous lot about Muhdhar going back to the first time he became a councillor in 1992 when he led the plot grabbing of Mombasa Municipal Council that left the council without any land for development.
In 1995, I exposed in the Daily Nation all the plots that Muhdhar grabbed for himself and Rashid Sajjad who had made him a nominated councillor. Again, I also exposed the sale of the council-owned Uhuru Gardens to Sajjad, something in which Muhdhar played a key role.
I also reported that Muhdhar replaced Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Road name with Muhdhar Mohamedhabib - his grandfather - because the road led to Muhdhar's residence. When I confronted him, Muhdhar told me his grandfather was entitled to a road name because he was a freedom fighter, yet there is no way he could be compared to Jaramogi, nor is there evidence of this in history books,
Muhdhar was the lead man in anti-Raila campaign during the Kanu era. On becoming Mayor, in 2009, he built Sh 40m apartment building near VoK/Nyali. He also changed Kisauni Road to Raila Odinga Road - it is a route used by goat herders, full of goat droppings. Kisauni Road name plate was still there in January last year, four years after the name change.
Raila is reported in today's Press that he opposed Kibaki's nominations of Kaindi and Arachi as Deputies to Inspector General of Police and Muhoro as CID Boss because they had blemishes on their records, therefore cannot be entrusted with police reforms.
I am asking Raila the same question: How come you okay the nomination of Muhdhar as an MP to carry out your reform agenda ?
Is Muhdhar a right member of the reform team Raila wants to give us if he wins next March ? If so, please dont bother standing for President because we do not need that kind of people to lead us.
Mohamed Warsama
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