A Mombasa youthful politician has vehemently opposed the planned scrapping off of Mvita constituency after the 2019 national consensus.
The Politician has said that Mvita constituency being an urban constituency serves many people during the day and is partially deserted at night since some move to other areas or Counties where there are cheaper houses.
Mohammed Masoud Machele the Chair, ‘Machele foundation’ on Friday said that news of the planned scrapping off of 27 constituencies just before the 2022 general election was shocking and that will deny locals the services they badly needed.
Mr. Machele said that the affected Members of parliament should lobby for the retention of the constituencies as scrapping them off will mean suffering since constituents will be forced to seek services far from their locality.
He said the move was against devolution spirit that Mvita people have been enjoying for many years and urged the sitting MP’s who may be affected to mobilize support so that the 27 constituency are retained.
Machele who has taken over the Mvita political arena and vowed to battle it out with whoever puts a foot in the Mvita parliamentary battle come 2022 said that Mvita in an urban constituency that serves many people from other counties and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission IEBC should not gauge it by the registered population.
“I am perturbed by this move, not because I want to vie for the Mvita Parliamentary seat but because I want Mvita locals to access services closer to them and not from far,” noted Mr. Machele.
The Mombasa youthful politician said that Mvita constituency being an Island and an urban constituency should be retained.
At the Coast, Mvita, Lamu East, Lamu West, Mwatate, Wundanyi, Voi, Bura and Galole constituencies risk being scrapped off after the 2019 national consensus,
According to the 2010 Andrew Ligale led review commission, constituencies that do not attain the 133,000 population threshold should be scrapped off after a clear boundaries review process.
The quota is arrived at after dividing the total population with the 290 number of constituencies countrywide.
For a constituency to be retained the population must be greater or lesser than the quota by either 40 percent for cities and sparsely populated areas and 30 percent for other areas according to IEBC Chair Wafula Chebukati.
