This archive report was first published on 6 August 2019.
Coastal Region Leaders Threaten Secession Talks ¶
On November 3, 2017, leaders from the Coastal Region, led by Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho and Kilifi County Governor Amason Kingi, threatened to initiate secession talks. The move was announced at a National Resistance Movement (NRM) launch in Mombasa.
The leaders claimed that the region has been marginalized by past and current governments, and that their main motivation for secession is to have their voices heard. Governor Joho stated, 'If people decide to ignore our voices we must look for another way for our voices to be heard.'
The secession talks are expected to involve a broad network of people from the Coastal Region. Governor Kingi explained that they would engage the coastal region people in the secession talks, saying, 'We have decided that we are going to engage the Coastal people and get their views on the same.'
The move has been compared to Brexit, a British exit from the European Union. CREXIT, a portmanteau of 'Coast Region' and 'Exit,' stands for an abbreviation for the coastal region exit from the rest of the Republic of Kenya.
However, the Mombasa Republican Council (MRC), a separatist group based in Mombasa, has dismissed the calls for secession. The group's spokesman, Rashid Mraja, stated, 'If at all they were honest people, they should have come out and joined us when MRC started.'
The Kenyan government had previously declared MRC an illegal organization in 2012. However, the group contested the decision in high court, which ruled that it was unconstitutional to claim the group was illegal.
