Audit reveals more rot in Mombasa county

 

Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho meeting with some of the Mombasa Municipal Tenants Association. Photo Nobert Allan

Monday, July 22, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY CHARLES MGHENYI

THE ongoing audit in Mombasa county operations continued to reveal irregularities with preliminary reports showing that 255 workers were hired before reaching 18 years while 49 have no national identity cards.

Even more shocking is the revelation that 27 staff workers were also employed after they surpassed the retiring age of 55. Curiously, the report also shows that nearly 700 workers out of an estimated 2,500 workers in the county  share the same birthday - December 1.
Governor Hassan Joho said this  is not a coincidence but an indication that there were 'ghost workers' who were employed fraudulently by the defunct Municipal council’.
Joho was speaking at the weekend in Mombasa during a meeting with tenants of county houses which the county risks losing to auctioneers over unpaid.
He said the audit,  debts, Joho said the audit, which is being conducted by Ernest & Young, does not target anyone but is meant to bring order in the operations of his government.
“I want to let you know we have a problem, but we also have solutions. It is shocking to see the type of malpractices at the county level,” he said. Joho said the audit is still going on, there were already questions over the hiring of some 1,000 members of the county work force.
Joho revealed that 31 workers were paid twice during the last pay for having duplicate identities. The Mombasa county workers have been on strike for four weeks now over salary arrears. Joho has however maintained his stance that all workers must be vetted before they receive their June salaries. The governor said the era of borrowing loans from financial institutions to pay workers is gone.
“We cannot be losing estates in the name of paying debts. Let the county government pay for its own operations,” said Joho. Mombasa county inherited a Sh3.4 billion debt from the defunct municipal council.
The debts accrued were from salary payments, pension fund among other loans borrowed from different banks to pay the workers. “Sh110 million was borrowed from Family Bank at a default rate of 42 per cent to pay workers. The loan had gain interest to Sh150 million since January hence Buxton estate is being targeted for auction,” said Mombasa county finance executive secretary Walid Khali.
Walid and Joho confirmed that Jomo Kenyatta Estate in Makande and Changamwe estates had already been sold and Likoni and Buxton estates were next in line.
Makande has 144, one-bedroom houses and another 144 two-bedroom houses, five shopping centres and a social hall and were auctioned after they were unable to pay Sh260 million Laptrust fund deduction.
Walid said Buxton estate is worth over Sh1 billion and it is been sold out for Sh150 million debt. “As we try to save these estates, I also urge you to be paying your rents in time,” Khalid told the tenants. 
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-128967/audit-reveals-more-rot-mombasa-county 

Pride Inn Hotel denies it wants to sack workers

Thursday, July 11, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY CHARLES MGHENYI

PRIDE Inn Hotel management have defended themselves over claims they are planning to sack workers. On Monday, the hotel employees told the press that the management was leaving the hired hotel premises at Sai Rock-Pride Inn on the Mombasa-Malindi highway and asking them to sign transfer letters to another branch behind Nakumatt Nyali.
The more than 80 employees expressed fears that the other branch had a capacity of less than 20 workers hence it was one way of retrenching them.
However, Pride Inn MD Hasnain Noorani yesterday said they were forcefully told to vacate the Sai Rock Hotel by the premises owners without notice. Noorani said they had signed a management contract with the premises owners but were on Saturday given orders to vacate.
“It is not our policy to sack our employees. We told them what was happening but they refuse to understand,” he said. The MD said they were caught off-guard and had no alternative but to think of the next option which was to transfer all the workers to their other branches in Mombasa.
Pride Inn hotel has three outlets in Mombasa—Pride Inn hotel Haile Selassie branch, Pride Inn Nyali and Pride Inn Sai Rock Hotel which is the centre of controversy.
“It is unfortunate that we are losing our beach hotel in unclear circumstances but we promise to follow up the issue in court,” Noorani added. The workers complained that the management has been moving out of the premises secretly without telling them about their fate and leaving them to run the hotel from the daily collections, allegations the MD denied.
On Tuesday the workers and the management met with labour officers in Mombasa to resolve the issue and it was agreed that the employees were still under Pride Inn hotel.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-127716/pride-inn-hotel-denies-it-wants-sack-workers

Devolution will not help us, MRC

MRC spokesperson Rahid Mraja.

Monday, July 1, 2013 - 00:00 -- BY CHARLES MGHENYI

THE Mombasa Republican Council leaders have broken their silence saying devolution will never solve their plights in the region. MRC spokesman, Rashid Mraja said devolution will not tackle their issues as leaders in the region seem to be working on their own.
Speaking to the Star, when he accompanied nominated senator Emma Mbura to the Coast General Hospital to give out seedlings to women who had delivered as a sign of encouraging tree conservation, Mraja said devolution will never answer their secession calls.
“Our region was formed by treaties which were signed by our grandfathers. Coast leaders should be talking about these treaties and how we can lead ourselves,” he said.
He said MRC has been advocating for peaceful reforms in the region where the locals will be able to govern themselves. Mraja said it is unfortunate that the government has branded them an illegal group and is accusing them of recruiting and training youths in some of the forests at the coast.
He said they have never trained any youth and they are only using the judiciary to defend their succession calls. “We opted to take legal actions in addressing our matter and we are certain that one day we will be successful,” said Mraja.
He faulted the claims that the group has been silenced by the authorities after some of the key leaders were arrested and imprisoned at Shimo la Tewa late last year and early this year.
He said they still advocate for self-rule of the coast region and they will fight to the end using the local and international courts. MRC president Omar Mwamnuadzi has never been seen in public since Nairobi senator Mike Sonko paid for them the Sh1 million bond when they were unable to raise the amount late last November.
Mraja was arrested again at the Kenya-Tanzania border in Lunga Lunga on March 20 as he tried to sneak into Kenya from Tanzania where it is alleged they had gone to administer traditional oaths. He was later released on Sh250,000 bond.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-126283/devolution-will-not-help-us-mrc

Tourism players optimistic of this year's high season

Wednesday, July 3, 2013 - 00:00 -- CHARLES MGHENYI

TOURISM players in the coast have expressed optimism as the high season kicks off in two weeks time.
The Mombasa Coast Tourism Association chairperson Mohamed Hersi said they expect more foreign and local tourists.
“We are currently expecting visitors in the country both local and foreign starting July 15. Domestic tourism will also pick at around August where we will receive visitors from upcountry,” he said.
Hersi, who is also the General manager at Whitesands Hotel, said that they are currently having a bed occupancy standing at 90 per cent comprising of both local and foreign tourists.
The hotel industry has been surviving on local and the conference tourism during this low season.
The association's executive officer Millicent Odhiambo said the country expects more charter planes at around this time hence they are optimistic that the season will be profitable.
She said they are numerous apartments construction which have been going on in the coast region will be able to accommodate all the visitors expected.
“We are optimistic that the season will be good as we do not have any challenges currently,” she said.
Late last year and early this year before the March 4 general election, many countries issued travel advisories to their citizens for fear of violence erupting.
The peaceful elections have however given a boost to the sector.
http://www.the-star.co.ke/news/article-126758/tourism-players-optimistic-years-high-season