Balala son, official injured in attack by rowdy youths

By Willis Oketch andPatrick Beja
Politics in Tourism Minister Najib Balala’s constituency have taken an ugly turn after the MP’s bodyguards were forced to shoot in the air to protect him from rowdy youths.
Balala, who was leaving the Mvita Constituency Development Fund (CDF) offices yesterday, was confronted by the youths who had donned T-shirts written ‘Shariff Nassir Foundation’ attempted to attack him. The incident left two people injured.
Balala blamed the attack on Mr Abdulswamadi Nassir a son of the former MP, who is also the chairman of the Shariff Nassir Foundation.

Some of the youths arrive at the Mombasa Law Courts Monday. They were arrested after disturbances outside the Mvita CDF offices in Mombasa. [PHOTO: MAARFUFU MOHAMMED]

But Nassir denied any links to the youths and said: "It is sad that the minister has linked me to the attack by the youths after he disagreed with them."
Nassir, however, did not deny that the youths might have received the T-shirts from his foundation, saying the institution had "employed" several youths in Mvita, Changamwe, Kisauni and Likoni.
He claimed the youths had gone to the CDF offices singing praises for Balala and turned rowdy after they differed with him.
Tensions between the two have been simmering below the surface despite recent efforts by Prime Minister Raila Odinga to unite all Coast politicians affiliated to the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.
An official of the Mvita Constituency Development Fund (CDF) Ms Lai Hamisi had her hand broken in the fracas when she was hit while trying to shield Balala from the attack.
The minister’s son also sustained a suspected eye injury after being attacked with kicks and blows in the fight outside the Mvita CDF offices.
The scuffle started at 11am after the youths from Shimanzi in Mvita confronted the minister demanding immediate replacement of a car washing machine Balala donated to them a year ago.
They claimed Balala bought them a faulty machine and told them to leave it there if they were not satisfied with it.
Not genuine
"If you think the machine does not serve you well, do not make noise. Just leave it here," Balala said.
Violence broke out when the nine youths disagreed with Balala over the machine, which they had returned claiming it was not genuine.
The youths blocked Balala as he tried to leave the main gate after disagreeing with them.
Balala’s bodyguard shot three times in the air to disperse the rowdy youths who were baying for his blood. His personal assistant, Mr Ben Furaha claimed the youths had a political agenda and had just stage-managed the issue of the machine to harass the minister.
"The minister used his personal funds to buy the car washing machine and perfumes a year ago. We could not understand why they came and shouted at him while wearing T-shirts of a foundation associated with political rival," Furaha said.
He said the bodyguard had exercised restraint when he shot in the air to disperse the rowdy youths as they attacked CDF officials. One youth was immediately arrested after being cornered during the fight.
Coast Provincial Police Officer Aggrey Adoli confirmed the incident and said police had arrested nine youths suspected to have caused mayhem at Mvita CDF office.
The incident left Balala shocked after two people, including his son who had tried to clear the youths from the gate, were injured.
The elder son Naeem Balala was injured in one eye by a punch thrown by one of the angry youths as he tried to stop them from blocking his father who was leaving the CDF office.
A CDF worker, Mr Said Badi said before the incident the youths came to the office shouting that they wanted to meet Balala.
"The youths donning Shariff Nassir Foundation T-shirts entered the office while shouting at the top of their voices," said Badi.
But Nassir said before the incident Balala was holding a meeting in the CDF office over development in the area.
Met the youths
He said the minister then went out of the office and met the youths who had returned the car washing machine.
Badi claimed after the youths disagreed with Balala, they told him Nassir was better than him because he had allegedly bought them a better machine.
But Balala told the youths that he would replace the machine if they were patient.
"In fact he asked them to leave the machine at the CDF office and went to his car," said Badi.
He recalled that the fracas ensued when Balala entered his vehicle, as the youth shouted at him and confronted CDF staff and his aides. Badi recalled that during the violence, Balala, who had also come out of the vehicle, luckily escaped being hit by one of the youths.
Ms Hamisi, who was standing next to Balala, raised her arm to shield him from being hit in the head, but the blow broke her arm.
The youths who were arrested, aged between 17 and 24 years, were taken to Makupa police station where they were locked up, but their colleagues who turned up to demand their release were also thrown into the cells. They were taken to court Monday evening.