Lamu Senate aspirant on ANC party ticket Yusuf Abubakar has promised residents that he will advocate for more funding to the county if elected.
Abubakar, a veteran civil rights advocate, who has been practicing law since 1998 stated that his decision to run for the Senate seat stems from his belief that Lamu deserves a better representation at the Senate if it is to grow into a port city.
Speaking to KNA Monday in Lamu County, the civil rights lawyer stated that his background as an advocate for the vulnerable bodes well with his aspirations to serve as the next Lamu Senator.
He stated that both the incumbent and former Lamu senators had failed in their mandate to convince the national government to increase the county’s allocation despite increased investment in infrastructure and personnel with the completion of the three berths in Lamu Port.
“There are already projections that Lamu County is going to experience an influx of Kenyans seeking jobs with the full operationalization of the Lamu Port. This will play a part in growing the GDP of this country. This is a good reason for the Commission of Revenue Allocation (CRA) to advice on an increment of funding, to this county,” he added.
He further noted that there have been attempts to alienate frontier counties such as Lamu, Wajir and Tana River at the expense of the ‘big population’ counties that he vowed to address if he wins the position.
“The One Man One Shilling debate, if allowed to pass, would lead to regions that had previously been marginalized by former governments to continue to lag behind at the expense of counties that had already benefited from government patronage,” he claimed.
Abubakar further said if he clinches the Lamu Senate seat, he will push for more funding in key areas such as healthcare, agriculture, youth affairs, education and industrialization, which he noted the county still lags behind.
“In my tenure the county government will be held accountable how they use their budgetary allocations,” said Abubakar, adding that there is evidence of a lot of wastage of resources based on Auditor General Annual Reports. “I would like to assure Lamu residents that I will carry out a thorough oversight role, to ensure that they get their money’s worth in terms of development projects,” the civil rights lawyer added.
He said he will also work closely with the national and county government to address the thorny land management issues. “The squatter and landlessness issue urgently need to be redressed by leaders such as myself who have the political will to tackle such human rights issues head on,” he added.
Abubakar said that in tackling land management in Lamu, the county will have resolved a large part of the insecurity issues as well as aided in creating investor confidence to come and invest in Lamu with the port project already commissioned.
He assured residents that he will keep off empty political rhetoric and divisive politics and serve all Lamu people regardless of their ethnicity or religion.
Other candidates who are eyeing the senate seat include Joseph Githuku on a Jubilee ticket, Ahmed Bunu (ODM), Francis Mugo (UDA) and the incumbent Anuar Loitiptip who is seeking to recapture the seat as an independent candidate.
