Written By Ramadhan Kambi
Even as the Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) continue to shake the political wave of the region, Lamu Governor Fahim Twaha has expressed confidence that the Jubilee party will carry the day in his region.
Even before PAA, Coast region had for a very long time been an ODM zone, but in the last election, Jubilee won two governor seats; Lamu and Kwale Counties.
Deputy President William Ruto bolted out of Jubilee and has since been campaigning for UDA in the region.
Speaking to journalists in Malindi Governor Twaha said Jubilee will win the majority of the seats in Lamu.
This comes even as ODM fails to set aside a day for party nominations in Lamu.
The governor refuted claims that the Jubilee party is dead in his county saying it is the party that will carry the day in the August 9 general elections.
Mr Twaha who is the only Coast governor still in the Jubilee party in the region after the exit of Kwale Governor Salim Mvurya said the party is still popular, particularly in Lamu.
Governor Mvurya Ditched Jubilee party and joined DP Ruto’s UDA party and is now busy campaigning for the Kenya Kwanza coalition in the Coast region to ensure they deliver votes to Ruto.
Mr Twaha said the achievements of the Jubilee administration in terms of delivering landmark projects is the one that has enabled the party to remain popular.
“Here in Lamu we have a tarmac road that goes from Minjila to Mokowe and has also gone to Mpeketoni town, we have a dual carriage to the port, the Lapsset project we built, there is electricity everywhere, we have also surveyed huge chunks of land and title deeds are on the way,” he said.
The Governor who was elected in a Jubilee ticket in 2017 after defeating the first Governor Issa Timammy said the party is alive and expects it would win so many seats in parliament after the general elections.
Jubilee party which is chaired by President Uhuru Kenyatta is in the Coalition of Azimio la Umoja whose presidential flagbearer is Raila Odinga of ODM.
Mr Twaha proudly said his county is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Jubilee administration following the successful implementation of key flagship projects.
“The whole country benefitted from the Jubilee government it has been said and repeated that during president Uhuru Kenyatta’s tenure 10,000 kilometers of roads have been tarmacked that is more than all the previous governments put together,” he said.
Apart from tarmacking of roads, he said the Jubilee administration ensured there is large connectivity of electricity in rural areas with more than 6 million Kenyans connected to electricity during Uhuru’s tenure.
Further, he said the education levels have also gone up together with health services including key specialized services introduced.
Twaha said Uhuru utilized his 10 years in office well and managed to deliver to Kenyans and hoped the next government would do the same or even more than that.
At the county level the governor said since he took office he has managed to deliver key legacy projects and if given a chance would do more for the people of Lamu.
He said there are so many achievements in different sectors including health where he issued NHIF to 20,000 families adding that Universal health care kicked off in Lamu and is working already.
In the previous budget, he said his administration added another 2000 families to the NHIF to ensure locals access health care easily.
On education he said any student getting 300 marks and above is given scholarship from form one to form four leaving the parent to pay fare and blankets.
“When I was first elected as MP transition rate from primary to secondary was seven percent but now its 100 percent and we are accessing national schools we have higher expectation that they will go to institutions of higher learning and get good jobs and will have capacity to take the county forward,” he said.
Currentlty he said Lamu is faced with a major human resource constraint with very few locals having right qualification yet those from outside regard lamu as a hadship area and are always reluctant to work there.
“Even the Lamu locals when they get jobs in Mombasa or Nairobi they go , there is a major challenge of hiring and retaning qualified people but I think these investments are the way forward and will bear fruits later even if we shall have retired,” he said.
Twaha said his administration has ensured they supply Water to Lamu East for the first time and t each household has piped water.
The Governor also said they have strived to formalized land ownership and have been able to adjudicate so many parcels of land and are waiting for tittle deeds to come.
“Very soon we will be issuing tittle deeds which will help alleviate poverty especially with the other develop ments such as tarmack roads electricity land which was previously sold at Sh. 300,000 now goes for Sh. 3 million,” he said.
