Murimi Mutiga @PeopleDailyKe
President Uhuru Kenyatta came face to face with endless agony that ferry users undergo daily after he made an impromptu visit at the Likoni crossing channel. Uhuru, who was accompanied by Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, surprised ferry users and workers alike when he made an extensive tour of the Kenya Ferry headquarters with a small security detail accompanying him.
However, two boats of armed Kenya Navy officers kept patrolling the ocean with the General Service Unit (GSU) ensuring tight security on the Likoni mainland. The President drove into the ferry from the island side and immediately alighted inside the vessel as it made voyage to the mainland.
Uhuru was taken on a tour of the ferry headquarters, workshop and service ramp by the KFS Managing Director Musa Hassan Musa on foot. “The President held a meeting with the MD inside the offices but I am not privy to what they discussed,” said KFS public relations officer Haaron Mutiso.
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However, other sources said the President had expressed concern over numerous stampede and chaos witnessed at the crossing channel. “The President wanted to know the problems at the ferry and why it has been difficult to resolve them,” said the source.
Uhuru is said to have demanded answers on why the KFS management had been unable to end traffic nightmares at the channel thus hurting the economy and image of south coast as a preferred tourist destination.
Balala is reported to have implored on the President the need to construct a bridge at the crossing channel so as to end suffering the channel and boost tourism. Mombasa county commissioner Nelson Marwa, the county government and civil society groups have been calling for removal of Musa over alleged incompetence.
The government plans to build the Mombasa Port Area Development Project (MPARD), popularly known as the Dongo Kundu bypass to decongest Mombasa and offer an alternative route to the South Coast. The first phase of the Sh11 billion bypass was commissioned in August last year.
This project is set to connect Mombasa’s mainland to the South Coast by a bridge and bypass across Muache Creek west of Mombasa Island. The full cost of the project is Sh30 billion but the figure is likely to go up with a number of additional constructions and land compensation being added.
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