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