Saturday, January 21, 2012

Balala can literally walk around his Mvita constituency



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By BILLY MUIRURI bmuiruri@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Friday, January 20  2012 at  20:47
When MPs claim mileage allowances, the bone of contention is not so much about the distance from Nairobi to their constituencies but the size of the area they represent.
These claims are normally justified when MPs say they travel the length and breadth of their constituencies (mostly through bad roads), meeting constituents and/or “initiating and inspecting development projects.”
But Tourism minister Najib Balala has no reason to claim much because he can literally walk around his constituency — and be home for lunch.
Measuring just seven square kilometres, Mvita is the smallest constituency, official statistics show.
The constituency is entirely in Mombasa Municipality and would pass for a ward in other constituencies.
Its wards have a high population density with Majengo, the most populous, having 38,834 people. Other wards are Mji wa Kale, Tudor, Shimanzi Ganjoni and Tononoka.
Gender balance is one of the best in the country — the difference between males and females is only about 700 in a population of 75,153.
The population density of 10,669 people per kilometre is one of the highest in the country, way above the national average of 66.
The wards are so close to each other that one of the main problems in civic education before and after election day is reminding people which voting zones they belong to.
Polls officials spend considerable time redirecting people where to vote as just crossing a road will land one in another ward or constituency.
When Mr Balala uprooted former Mombasa Kanu supremo, Mr Shariff Nassir in the 2002 elections, one would have thought supporters were transported in lorries but they just walked.
The same would be replicated in 2007 when former Mombasa mayor Taib Ali Taib faced Mr Balala in a bare knuckle fight for the seat. Again, Balala proved he was smarter.
Since its creation in 1988, the area has know only two MPs — Mr Nassir and Mr Balala.
On his ascendancy to the Mvita seat, Mr Balala served as a nominated councillor and Mombasa mayor.
The Nassir family is, however, itching to get back what they consider their seat through Abduswamad Nassir, who has declared an interest.
Already, reports of violence and wheeler-dealing indicate the contest for the “small seat” will be a bruising one.
The other five small constituencies are in Nairobi. The second smallest is Starehe which, like Mvita, has the CBD in its at 11 square kilometres followed by Kamukunji (12km2), Makadara (23km2) and Dagoretti (39km2).
No wonder when the Andrew Ligale Interim Independent Boundaries Review Commission was in Mombasa and proposed two new constituencies, Mvita was not touched.

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