PAA defends Senate speaker over alleged role to remove KPA chairman from office

Pamoja African Alliance (PAA) has defended Senate Speaker Amason Kingi against claims that he was scheming to have Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) chairman Mr Benjamin Tayari replaced.

PAA secretary general and Ganze MP Kenneth Kazungu Tungule claimed the allegations were meant to undermine the party, which has made inroads in Kwale and parts of the Coast region.

He claimed two politicians hatched a plan to discredit PAA in the eyes of Kwale people by claiming that Mr Kingi, who is the founding party leader, was pushing for the replacement of Mr Tayari, who comes from that region.

“To counter PAA’s fast-growing popularity in Kwale county, some of these politicians, two of them in particular, have hatched a plan to discredit PAA in the eyes of Kwale people. They want to paint PAA as an enemy of the Kwale people,” said Mr Tungule.

But Mr Patrick Mangale, Mr Daniel Kitsao, and Ms Muzka Kibwana, who went public about the alleged scheme, maintained the position that there was a plot to kick out Mr Tayari.

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“No amount of threats or intimidation will make us change our stand. Our statement was on governance and performance (of the port Mombasa) and not about politics,” they said.

In a signed statement, they claimed that Mr Tungule was talking about PAA politics and the 2027 general election, while the issue at hand was a scheme to have Mr Tayari replaced at KPA.

“There is nothing tangible that the PAA leader is sharing concerning the truth of the matter apart from conducting a public relations exercise for his political party’s survival ahead of the 2027 polls,” they said.

In his statement, Tungule claimed that PAA was fast gaining ground in Kwale County and this had caused panic among some political players in the county where Mr Kingi’s critics came from.

He claimed some politicians sponsored the group to make the statement against Mr Kingi, claiming he was lobbying for the removal of Mr Tayari as KPA board chairman.

“In a lame effort to achieve this, they hired innocent civilians and sponsored a press conference to allege that the speaker of the senate and by extension PAA is lobbying for the removal of Ben Tayari as the chairman of KPA Board and replace him with a Mr Mulewa from Kilifi,” he noted.

“Let it be known that neither the speaker nor PAA is lobbying for the removal of Ben Tayari. If anything, PAA as a party will be proud to see  Ben Tayari get an extension for another term,” he added.

He said PAA was undeterred and would continue with its popularization mission unbothered because in Kwale and across the Coast region, where the party has its political base.