‘The sultan of Mombasa’ was to lead the ODM rally at Mvita grounds, which a 10-minute drive from Tononoka.
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ODM had planned to hold a parallel rally to Jubilee’s rally in Mombasa on Sunday where President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to lead an onslaught to the NASA outfit and welcome defectors as well.
Police cited lack of prior notice and lack of enough manpower to provide adequate security to both rallies, saying they would only guard President Uhuru Kenyatta’s rally at Tononoka grounds.
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Mohamed Hatimy, the party's Mombasa chairman however claimed on Saturday that police refused to take their notification letter.
“We were first to organise a rally. We had scheduled it even before the Governor (Hassan Joho) jetted back,” he said, adding the police action was unconstitutional
“Does this mean that no other functions can take place in Mombasa because the President is around?” he asked.
Joho termed the cancellation of their rally as an intimidation by Jubilee government.
Mvita MP Abdulswamad Shariff Nassir further added they add receive rumors that there was a plot to disrupt their rally using violence.
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"We are also aware of the tactical measures prepared by the Police to forcefully evict and harm our people who would grace the rally at Mvita grounds. These are continued intimidation tactics to silence the opposition and wont succeed"
he added " For the sake of maintaining peace and safety of our people, we are urging our supporters not to congregate at Mvita grounds today as we shall hold a grand public rally on 26th March 2017 at Tononoka grounds"
Uhuru and his deputy are expected to addressed residents of Mombasa later this afternoon.
