March 18, 2024

Lamu Leaders Failed Us: Senate Aspirant

ANC Lamu Senate Candidate Yusuf Abubakar campaigning in Pandanguo area, in Witu ward to members of the Boni Community in Pandanguo

By Joel Mzanta

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

Lamu ANC senate aspirant Yusuf Abubakar says his priority goal when elected would be to push for more fund allocations to the county.

Abubakar, a veteran civil rights advocate, who has practised law in Mombasa since 1998, stated that he decided to run for the Lamu Senate seat after realizing the County deserves a better representation at the Senate level, if it is to grow into a port city.

Speaking to the media on Monday June 20 in Lamu County, the lawyer stated that his background his advocacy experience that involves representing vulnerable groups and individuals would benefit Lamu communities a great deal.

 Previous Leaders

He stated that both the incumbent and former Lamu senators had dismally failed to convince the national government to increase Lamu county’s allocation. This even after increased investment in infrastructure and personnel with the completion of the three berths in Lamu Port

“There are already projections that Lamu county is going to experience an influx Kenyans seeking jobs with the full operationalization of the Lamu Port, which in five to ten years will play a part in growing the GDP of this country,” he said.

That, he added, is the reason for which the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) should recommend increment of funding.

He claimed there had been attempts to disenfranchise frontier counties such as Lamu, Wajir and Tana River at the expense of the “big population” counties.

The said counties happen to represent the marginalized and vulnerable in communities.

“The One Man One Shilling debate, if allowed to pass, would lead to regions that had previously been marginalized by former governments to continue to lag behind at the expense of counties that had already benefited from government patronage,” he said.

 Real Issues 

Abubakar also promised to push for more funding in key areas such as healthcare, agriculture, youth affairs, education and industrialization in oder to put Lanu at per with other more developed counties.

“In my tenure the county government will be held accountable in how they use their budgetary allocations,” Abubakar said.

He said that if reports of the auditor general were anything to go buy then there a lot of wastage of public resources going on.

He noted Lamu county funds had been underutilized at rate of 43 per cent.

“I would like to assure Lamu residents that I will carry out a thorough oversight role, to ensure that they get their money’s worth in terms of development projects,” the civil rights lawyer said.

Lamu Senator Anwar Loitiptip (Photo / Courtesy)

 Land Question 

He said that he will also work closely with the national and county government to address land management issues, which he noted have been a thorn in the side for Lamu County.

 “The squatter issue need to be seriously addressed by a person like me who has the political will to tackle such human rights issues head on,” he added.

Abubakar said that in tackling land management in Lamu, the county will have resolved a large part of the insecurity issues as well as aided in creating investor confidence to come and invest in Lamu with the port project already commissioned.

He assured residents that he will keep off empty political rhetoric and divisive politics and ensure all the policies represented in his manifesto represent all Lamu people regardless of ethnicity or religion.

 Other Contenders

Other candidates who are eyeing the senate seat include Joseph Githuku who is running on a Jubilee ticket, Ahmed Bunu on an ODM ticket, Francis Mugo on a UDA ticket and the current incumbent who is seeking to defend his seat on an independent ticket.

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