The majority of houses in Mombasa Old Town remain empty after residents flee to different areas in the city. However, Mvita MP Abdulswamad Sharif Nassir faulted the move saying in Mvita all the residents in Old Town are related to almost all other parts within Mvita constituency.
The legislatures, however, added that Old town boundaries have gone to Aldina secondary school.
Already hundreds of Old Town youth have moved out of the area to avoid being caught up in the cessation of movement order.
The youth, according to sources, moved to Majengo, Kisauni, Likoni and areas in Nyali sub-county.
“As soon as I heard about it, I moved out. They will not make me stay in one place. We know the Governor was very angry with residents,” said Soud Ahmed, a resident.
Some residents believe there is more to the containment directive than the coronavirus.
“This is just revenge mission from some leaders because Old Town residents did not say yes sir to them and rebelled,” said Muhsin Ahmed, another resident says.
Mombasa county commissioner Gilbert Kitiyo said those who moved out of the area are risking the lives of their relatives.
“It is of no use to move out of the area. Because if you have the disease then you are just transmitting it to your relatives or friends and you are going to infect them, which is not fair,” said Kitiyo.
The area legislator added that the timing of the order they gave it on the day Parliament went for recess.
“It is ill-timed,” said Nassir.
He, however, said the security agencies should have consulted the leadership of the area before implementing the order.
“We were not consulted. Mvita is very small. Now you will discover that everybody is related to everybody. People have moved to other areas like Majengo and Mvita,” said Nassir on phone.
The MP, however, said he is waiting to see how the security officers will implement the containment.
“I don’t know how they will do it,” he said.
The decision to exclude some parts of the actual Old Town also puzzled Nassir.
According to him, the security personnel might have considered the area in terms of wards.
“If it is Old Town as an area, it includes Bondeni area and reaches Allidina High School,” said Nassir.
He added that the move has gone at the wrong time and given a lot of time to escalate the move.
