Kisauni Member of Parliament Ali Mbogo has urged the youth to come out in numbers to support him in his 2022 gubernatorial bid.

Addressing a youth gathering in Junda ward Kisauni constituency, the aspiring governor of Mombasa said that the time has come for him to take over the leadership as the second governor of Mombasa.

“You are the people who will make me take the lead, you are the same people who will decide on who will be your leader after the general elections and therefore am urging you to give me your votes because I believe in you,” he said.

Mbogo said that he has confidence in his people and he believes that he will take the winning position.

He called upon the residents to put aside their differences and make same decision that will help him become the second governor of Mombasa County.

“You are the ones who will make me win or fail in this race. We all want change, job opportunities and we all want to improve our businesses and have good lives." he said.

Adding "These will be possible if we put aside our differences and stand together as one family of Junda and make same decision in the ballot papers."

He further said that this is the right time for people to vote for reform because leadership is not begged, it is grabbed.

 "This time we are going to grab the position because it is the right time for us to take the winning, you cannot beg anyone to give you the leadership, no one will give you or bring for you the leadership and that is why we have to grab it whether they like it or not."

"Am urging you to be with me, walk and win with me,” 

In the race to succeed incumbent Hassan Joho who is serving his last term as the county chief, Mbogo will battle against Mvita Mp Abdulswamad Nassir, Businessman Suleiman Shahbal, Deputy Governor William Kingi and former Senator Hassan Omar.

The government has declared some parts of Lamu County as disturbed areas and ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew for 30 days. 

In a statement released by Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i the move follows the recent surge of attacks in the region.

“Incidences of criminal attacks that have led to the loss of seven innocent lives have been reported in Widho Sub-location, Majembeni Location of Lamu County and Lamu Central Subcounty,” read the statement by the CS.

Adding “In accordance with Section 106 (1) of the National Police Service Act, 2011, the National Security Council has declared the following parts of Lamu County as Disturbed Areas and ordered a dusk-to-dawn curfew for a period of thirty (30) days effective Wednesday, January 5th, 2022.”

The areas in Lamu West Sub-county that will be affected by the curfew include: Mukunumbi Division (Majembeni location, Ndamwe Location, Mkunumbi Location),  Witu Division (Pandanguo Location, Binde Warinde location,  Witu location,  Hamasi Location)

In Mpeketoni the areas that will be affected by the curfew include: Bomani Location, Pongwe Location, Mpeketoni Location, Bahari Location and Mapenya Location. Hindi which is in Lamu central has also been classified as a disturbed area. 

Matiang’i  has also ordered the deployment of security forces in the region to beef up security in the region and ensure all illegal firearms are seized.

Five suspects were on Tuesday arrested over another attack at Widhu Majembeni in Lamu county, which saw six people killed on Monday.

"Residents in the Disturbed Areas are requested to cooperate with the Security agencies and to share information on suspicious persons and activities." said Matiang'i

Barely a week after his political foe Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir brandished a gubernatorial campaign song, banker Suleiman Shahbal has had his released.  

The duo is expected to jostle for the hotly contested Mombasa County governorship in the August 9^th 2022 general elections.

While Abdulswamad’s campaign song was done by Tanzania musician Aslay, Shahbal’s latest song promoting his gubernatorial bid was sang by  Masauti.

In a short clip seen by this blog, singer Masauti is seen at SS Media studios getting high on the jam dubbed as “tumpeleke” that he has released promoting Shahbal’s candidature.

Part of the song describes Shahbal as brave christening him “Commando.”

“It has been accepted that Shahbal is the Mombasa leader. He is deserves to be a leader. Shahbal is firm and calm,” a part of the song played.

In the video, Masauti was also heard declaring his support for Shahbal the businessman waked in the studio and hugged him then proceeded to listen to the song.

Aspirants for top seats in the coast region have been widely known for using popular musicians, mostly Bongo flava artists or coast-based musicians with local dialect to influence citizens to vote for them.

The artist contracted have a huge following. They have the capabilities to influence their fan base to ascribe to a certain politicians agenda and vote for the aspirant.

In the 2017 general election for instance, incumbent Mombasa County governor Hassan Ali Joho used a similar campaign strategy through songs from legendary Bongo Flava superstar Ali Kiba and Susumila.

Jomvu MP Badi Twalib who seeks to retain his seat also recently had his campaign song dubbed “Badi Tosha” released by musician Chikuzee.

President Uhuru Kenyatta is on Thursday expected to tour the Mombasa port and inspect the progress of ongoing works at the new Kipevu Oil Terminal(KOT).

According to a statement from KPA acting Managing Director John Mwangemi, the President will be accompanied by the State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs for the People’s Republic of China.Wang Yi.

The visit by President Uhuru Kenyatta comes just weeks after he unveiled the first modern shipyard at Mtongwe Kenya Navy Base within the port of Mombasa. 

The new KOT is an off-shore facility located at thePort of Mombasa, opposite to the existing Kipevu Oil Terminal.

The project consists of one offshore island terminal with four berths whose total length is 770m and one work boat wharf at Westmont area for landing facilities.

It also has five sub-sea pipelines which were buried 26meters under the seabed to allow for future dredging of the channel without interfering with the pipes. The new KES 40 billion Oil Terminal is financed by KPA and constructed by China Communication Construction Company (CCCC).

"Once complete the new oil terminal facility will have four berths (One not fully equipped) capable of handling six different hydrocarbon import and export products, it is also fitted with a Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) facility, crude oil and heavy fuel oil." said KPA acting Managing Director John Mwangemi.

Adding "It also has provisions for handling three types of white oil products (DPK- aviation fuel, AGO – diesel and PMS – petrol)."

The terminal will for a start be able to accommodate three ships concurrently with a capacity of 200,000 tons each.

A fourth berth has already been constructed provisionally, which will be fitted with facilities in future commensurate with demand, to be able to handle a fourth ship.

This new Oil Terminal will effectively replace the old Kipevu Oil Terminal situated on the mainland Port Reitz, which was built in 1963 to serve the then East Africa Oil Refinery (EAOR) which later became the Kenya Petroleum Refineries Limited (KPRL).

The Old KOT is a single jettywith a capacity to accommodate only one vessel at any given time. Then the discharge pipe sizes were smaller, product and discharge flow rates were also much slower although they served well at the time.

Hordes of reporters and bloggers from Mombasa were on Saturday left disappointed after Nigerian singer Omah Lay's press conference was called off at the last minute.

The 'Godly' hitmaker was scheduled to address a media briefing at a hotel in Mombasa, a day after he failed to perform at the B-club beach festival on new year's eve. He had earlier posted the poster of the show on his instagram page, the post was however deleted from his page on Saturday afternoon.

It is still not yet clear why he did not show up for the show and why he has deleted the post.

Journalists and bloggers arrived at the hotel on time for the meeting but were shocked to see Omah Lay leaving the hotel in the presence of Kenyan singer Tanasha Donna.

" Why is he doing this to us. He calls for a media briefing we arrive even before the communicated time and the funny thing is he just heads to his car with Tanasha donna and drive off without a word " shouted one of the journalists.

There have been wild speculations that Tanasha Donna is dating the Nigerian singer after they were seen hanging out together.

On November last year, while addressing a media briefing in Nairobi, Omah Lay said he said he has a Kenyan girl.

"I have a Kenyan girlfriend. But I am single for everybody, the love from Kenya is amazing." he said.

When asked if he is dating Tanasha Donna, he responded ""I am single. I said I had a Kenyan girlfriend but I am single. I don't wanna talk about the rumours on Instagram... The videos and stuff,"

Kenyans from different walks of life flocked the Coastal city of Mombasa to usher in the new year 2022 in style.

Thousands thronged public beaches, hotels and the Mama Ngina Waterfront for dance and party.

Governor Hassan Joho joined revellers at the Mama Ngina Waterfront for the Governor's new year fireworks and concert. The event was graced by several artists including Tanzanian artist AliKiba, King Kaka, Femi One, Nyashinski, Redsan, Susumila among others.

Hundreds of local and international tourists also thronged the Sarova Whitesands hotel for a spectacular new year eve dinner and concert graced by singer Nyashinski

And as the clock struck midnight the skyline was turned into a multi-coloured maze as all the different venues staged spectacular displays of fireworks.

The tourism and hospitality sector in the coast region has received a boost with the arrival of the spiritual leader of Shree Swaminarayangadi Siddhanth Sajivan Mandal Maninagar, Ahmedabad, India.

His Divine Holiness Shree Jitendriyapriyadasji Swamiji Maharaj arrived in the the Coast accompanied by his saints and devotees.

The local flight carrying the new spiritual leader and his entourage touched down at Mombasa's Moi international  airport in the afternoon to a warm reception from local leaders during his maiden trip to the country.

The spiritual leader who took over from his predecessor His Divine Holiness Acharya Shree Purushottampriyadasji Swamishree Maharaj will be in the region for a week-long prayers tour and usher in the new year in the coastal city.

The entourage liaison officer Nautamlala Sanghani [Nunu] alias Simba confirmed the spiritual leader will conduct special prayers for peace and tranquility to prevail before and after next year’s polls ahead of the new year celebrations.

 He pointed out the spiritual leader's functions are guided by the health guideline under the COVID-19 pandemic protocol in line with the government directive.

"We will be abide with government guidelines on the pandemic protocol under the health ministry,’’ he pointed out. 

Business at the airport came to a standstill with community members struggling to get his grip and to take blessings and selfies of his arrival on their mobile phones.

Tourism stakeholders drawn from the coast region have expressed their dissatisfaction with the ministry of health directive that requires all tourists to show proof of vaccination before accessing their facilities.

Led by the Kenya Coast Tourism Association KCTA chairperson Victor Shitakha, they described the directive as draconic and illegal only meant to destabilize the already struggling industry that was picking up its pieces.

Addressing the media on Wednesday  afternoon, Shitakha said that most of their facilities in the region ignored the illegal and ill-advised directive that he said when announced led to the cancelation of a number of bookings in several hotels.

He said that the industry was expecting to capitalize on the festive season with hotels which were not operating fully beginning to pick up but the directive threatened to derail that.

“They chose December when business was booming, Mombasa and the region was just starting to pick up. Hotels were full with 90 to 100 percent bed occupancy and bookings, tour operators had business coming in and then this draconic and illegal directive is given,” said Shitakha.

According to Shitakha, most of the hotels ignored to implement the directive allowing people to come in choosing to rather follow all other laid out protocols put in place to combat the pandemic.

“We would like to ask the ministry of health to be sensitive with the hotels and the tourism industry, we have gone through a lot and just when industry is picking up they come with such kind of directives,” said Shitakha.

According to the directive, the government was going to deny all unvaccinated Kenyans from accessing government services in all public offices.

Further, it ordered all hotels, bars, restaurants, public parks and game reserves, the transport sector all to ask for proof of vaccination before allowing people in.

The implementation of the directive was however halted by the High court though the health ministry still insisted on its full implementation and was to come into place starting December 21st.

Shitakha said that they were not against vaccination arguing that getting vaccinated was not an obligation but rather a choice for one to make individually adding that denying people services or blocking them from accessing certain places was going against constitutional rights.

He added that it seemed as if there was a deliberate attempt to scuttle the tourism industry in the region and the country at large.  

He added that the industry was the most hard hit by the pandemic when it first struck in March 2020, they were forced to put in place and implement expensive protocols outlined to combat it.

“They offered us a Sh3 billion stimulus package which was supposed to cushion the industry, and then they turned it into a loan where you could take so little only to upgrade your hotel,” he said.

He further took issue with the National Industrial Training Authority now requiring them to pay training levies saying that it had nothing to do with the hospitality industry.

He said that the industry was already paying a percent percent levy to the tourism fund as required by the law.

Shitakha further took issues with the Tourism ministry for failing to speak on behalf of the sector adding that the ministry had failed the sector and had not done enough to protect it.

The minister for tourism Najib Balala was present when his Health counterpart made the announcement two week earlier to the December 21st set deadline.

“He should have spoken on behalf of the tourism industry, I have nothing against him and neither I’m I blaming him as an individual, Balala is my good friend. I’m only blaming the ministry and some team players within it for failing to speak on our behalf when the directive was being issued,” said Shitakha.

He further blamed the Labour ministry for failing to speak on the matter affecting an industry that employs a big number of people who were rendered jobless for some time occasioned by the pandemic.

On his part Kenya Union Of Domestic Hotels Educational Institutions Hospitals & Allied Workers (Kudheiha) Mombasa branch Secretary Zack Osore called on the government to consider engaging the tourism and hospitality operators to find alternative ways to addressing the outstanding issues in order for the sector to fully recover and create more jobs.

"We are telling the government to reconsider this directive since many employees have lost hope of retaining their livelihoods" said Osore.

Jomvu member of parliament Badi Twalib has mourned the death of the rhumba maestro Lulendo Matumona popularly known as General Defao who passed away on Monday after falling sick.

The 62-year-old renowned Congolese singer and songwriter passed away at Laquintinie Hospital in Douala Cameroon where he was admitted after falling sick when he had gone to perform for the festive season.

The Mp, a rhumba enthusiast described Defao as a legend and a house hold name who shook the radio airwaves from the 70s and 90s together with the likes of Nniboma Mwadidio, Nyoka Longo Mvula, Bozi Boziana and Mbilia Bell who were all part of his musical generation.

He sent his condolences to his family and all rhumba fans and lovers both in Congo and Kenya and across East Africa given that DR Congo recently joined the East African Community.

“I send my sincere condolences to the Defao family and all the rhumba lovers across the east African region, I am a big fun of rhumba music especially Ferre Golla, the general’s death has come as a big shock to us, we shall dearly miss him, rest in peace General Defao,” said Twalib

He also sent his condolences to one of the biggest rhumba presenters uncle Fred Obachi Machoka of Royal Media Services and Westlands member of parliament Tim Wanyonyi another ardent rhumba lover for the loss of one of their favorite legendary artist.

Twalib said that the rhumba genre music had evolved so much and had now become a household type of music for all generations unlike before when it was only associated with the older generation.

He called on upcoming artists in the country to be consistence and not be in a hurry to get quick success urging them to exercise patience adding that the music industry pays well if one puts in discipline and has work ethics and principals.

“Consistency in anything is what matters a lot, I urge all our artists in the country to realize that artists like the late General Defao began music in the 70s and made it because they had principals and discipline” said Twalib

Several Congolese artists including Fally Ipupa, Ferre Gola, Barbara Kanam took to social media to to express their sadness and mourn the legend as soon as the announcement of his death was confirmed and made public.

Defao, the ‘Sala Noki’ singer will be fondly remembered for his melodious voice and silky dance moves that lift up audiences whenever he took on the stage to perform.

Born in Kinshasa in December 31, 1958, General Defao who was days away from marking his 63rd birthday began his singing career in 1978 as a teenager as part of Orchestre Suka Movema.

He also had brief stints with Fogo Stars and Somo West before joining Grand Zaiko Wawa and later becoming an integral part of Choc Stars.

Towards the end of 1990, he quit Choc Stars and formed Big stars with Djo where he released several albums in 1999 before they parted ways.

At that time, he faced a lot of hostility in his country from the powers that be forcing him to run into exile in early 2000s where he lived in Kenya for almost two decades before returning back to Congo again around 2019.