Speaker Kingi Under Fire for Dissolving Party

By Robby Ngoba

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

A section of Kilifi County residents and leaders have termed Senate Speaker Amason Kingi’s decision to dissolve the Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) party as a selfish political move that will cost him in future.

Speaking on various occasions, the residents said Kingi’s move had indicated that he was not about to champion the interests of the coastal people through a political party but it was all about his personal interests.

Led by Hans Ondiek, the residents claimed that the former Governor of Kilifi did not consult party members when making the move and that they only discovered when he appeared at an Iftar dinner organized by the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party held at the Swahili port in Mombasa few days ago.

“It is very unfortunate that the party that was formed to champion the interests of the coastal people has been silently dissolved and the party leader who is Senate Speaker Kingi joined UDA. This is a stab in the back especially for supporters who viewed it as an alternative voice to dominance of ODM in the region and it also shows how selfish a leader of Kingi’s caliber can be,” he said.

He said any leader associated with the broad-based government will find it difficult to be re-elected in Kilifi county and the country at large due to the economic and political persecution of Kenyans by the President William Ruto administration.

“President Ruto should know that Kenyans don’t want him and he is now killing political parties that he was behind their formation in 2022 so that he could consolidate power through ODM and UDA, but I want to warn him that Kenyans are awake and that they will not elect leaders under these parties since that will be the only way to clip his powers and sent him home in 2027,” he said.

While addressing the Iftar dinner, Kingi shocked supporters by publicly announcing that he had joined UDA and that the party will field candidates in all political positions.

“In 2022, my PAA party had a Governor candidate in Kilifi, George Kithi and he is here with us in UDA and recently, as PAA, we had poached Aisha Jumwa from UDA but we folded and we are now together in UDA. UDA is going to field candidates in all positions in the Coast region and we know it is not going to be easy because ODM is strong, but we are ready to tackle them,” said Kingi.

The party has in the recent past suffered politically after more than 500 grassroots leaders from Kilifi defected to ODM and were received by Governor Gideon Mung’aro.

Elizabeth Muthoka, one of those who defected before dissolution of the party said that they were hoodwinked to support it with the promise that issues affecting residents could be resolved.

While expressing gratitude in joining ODM, Muthoka narrated the events of a recent statehouse meeting where President William Ruto allegedly told PAA leadership to dissolve the party and join either his United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party or ODM since he was keen to forming the 2027 government with the two main political parties.

“We had a vision and an ideology when PAA was formed, but we were hoodwinked and the party ideology was abandoned and replaced with selfish interests that is why we have resolved to walk out.”

According to her the President was keen on working with the ODM party and that as residents of Kilifi they were compelled to join the party since it was the most popular party in the coastal region.

“When we were in PAA, we thought that we could dislodge ODM from the region but we later discovered that it was impossible to outdo ODM here. We are now demanding for the dissolution of PAA because it is a briefcase party with no following,” she added.

UDA also suffered a blow after some of its grassroots leaders led by NGAAF director Ruth Bendera decamped and joined ODM.

Bendera said that she joined the party since it was very accommodative to divergent opinions unlike UDA where the party leadership in the county was squabbling.