Young people from Nyali at the VoK Social Hall on
Sunday / BRIAN OTIENOYoung people in Nyali have come up with an
initiative where they will put each and every candidate interested in the MP
seat on a weighing scale ahead of the 2027 general elections.
The young people, led by Momo Nzaro from Kongowea
ward in Nyali subcounty, said they are tired of leaders who promise heaven and
deliver hell when they get to power.
“We will now carefully scrutinize each and every
person who declares interest in being our next MP. We will look at their
record, background and everything necessary to help us make an informed choice
in 2027,” Nzaro said Sunday.
She spoke at the VoK Social Hall where
more than 500 youth met.
First on the weighing scale will be businessman
Said “Saido” Abdallah, who has unsuccessfully run for the seat three times now,
since the constituency was curved out of the larger Kisuani just before the
2013 general elections.
Nzaro said Saido has been consistent in vying for
the seat and continuing projects even after losing out three times.
“These are the things we will be looking at. For instance,
we have heard that Saido has been helping pay bills for the sick at the Coast
General Teaching and Referral Hospital, among other things.
“We will be selecting a team of social experts
from Nyali so that we come up with a criteria that we will be using to give
marks to the candidates,” Nzaro said.
She said the criteria will be based on the issues
that affect Nyali residents and how they wish to be helped out of the issues.
“For instance, in Nyali, women have been suffering
from lack of employment opportunities. We will be looking at why the women are
missing out on these employment opportunities and try to see how a leader is
likely to solve them based on their previous record,” Nzaro said.
Starting October, one candidate will be
scrutinized each month by the team of social experts that will be selected.
Asha Msafiri, a Frere Town resident, said some
leaders have shown consistency in helping residents even though they are not in
any positions of power.
“These are some of the issues we will be looking
at in assessing the suitability of a candidate as an MP. Is the candidate
easily accessible? Are they experienced in some field? Have they ever helped
change the lives of Nyali residents before? Are they even residents of Nyali?
Such are the questions we will be seeking to answer,” Msafiri said.
A candidate will be selected at the beginning of
the month and a vote will be done at the end of the month.
During the month, members of a selection panel
will be gathering information about the candidate which will then be discussed
in the last four days of the month.
“For instance, Saido, who is most likely to be our
first candidate to be scrutinised, will have to tick all our boxes before we
declare support for him as Nyali youth,” Msafiri said.
Phoebe Naseem, a Ziwa la Ng’ombe ward resident,
said there are candidates who have been helping youth in Nyali for long.
“These are the people we will be seeking to
interact with and try and determine the genuineness of their helping hand,”
Naseem said.
She said charisma, intelligence, heart,
resilience, perseverance, temperament, are among the qualities they will be
looking at when assessing a suitable candidate.
“After we make give each candidate some pass
marks, we will be declaring a suitable candidate that we will be asking the
youth to vote for.
“If Saido emerges the best, we will rally the
youth behind him,” Naseem said.
Nyali has attracted almost 11 contestants so far.
It is the constituency that attracts the highest
number of candidates each election period since it was created.
INSTANT ANALYSIS:
Youth make up the majority of the population in Nyali, which is has the second most populated sub-counties in Mombasa, behind Kisauni.
The area MP is currently former journalist Mohammed Ali, who is serving his second term but has set his eyes on the governor seat in 2027.
