This archive report was first published on 1 July 2019.
Protests erupted in Mombasa on June 29, 2019 as activists condemned the alleged use of public money by Mombasa County Assembly members to travel to Egypt and watch the Africa Cup of Nations matches.
According to reports, nine MCAs are alleged to have embarked on a one-month 'benchmarking' trip to Egypt at the taxpayers' cost of Sh3.2 million.
The trip has sparked outrage among civil society groups, who claim that the funds could have been better utilized to improve sports facilities in the county.
Executive Directors of Haki Africa and Manyatta Youth Entertainment, Hussein Khalid and Nicholas Sogora, respectively, questioned the priorities of the MCAs.
'One wonders why MCAs would attend a benchmarking event for an event that concerns the country. What lessons are they going to learn that will benefit the county?' posed Nicholas Sogora.
'We have teams which cannot afford to participate in various events. Mombasa stadium stalled long time ago and has turned into a forest. How was all these ignored and instead millions used for MCAs to watch Afcon,' posed Hussein Khalid.
