Slightly over one year ago, Joho family figurehead, one Aharub Ibrahim Khatri, a businessman with a dark past was sworn in as the county speaker.
Khatri was a carefully hand-picked candidate who Governor Joho’s powerful political influence lead to his installation as the County Assembly Speaker even as 11 other candidates were blocked from submitting their papers to contest the same seat.
Khatri was thrown into instant stardom and national limelight when he walked into the Mombasa County Assembly clad in official regalia and overwhelmingly voted unopposed as Speaker of the County Assembly of Mombasa.
From then on, unlike many county speakers, Khatri was seen on the frontline of many high profile political events including those where he solely received NASA President Raila Odinga whenever the latter visited Mombasa.
Governor Ali Hassan Joho, under the patronage of his influential brother Abu, has of late strategically taken a low profile, stepping back to allow the rookie Mombasa Assembly Speaker to enjoy the limelight and build his political profile. It is obvious even to the untrained eye that the Johos are preparing Khatri for bigger roles in the future.
Constitutionally, Ali Hassan Joho is barred from running for a third term and therefore, naturally, Abu Joho wants to see to it that he maintains his vice-grip on the conduct of the affairs of the Sh8.2 billlion annual devolved allocation plus more than Sh3 billion in revenie which he micro-manages like he does for his own house.
With Hassan Joho leaving the powerful seat, his elder brother, the defacto Governor of Mombasa, Abu Joho, is determined to place another puppet in Khatri to control executive functions of Mombasa County for another decade.
But who is Aharub Ibrahim Khatri? How did he catch the eyes of the Johos? Where was he and what was he doing in years gone by?
Kenyan News Day conducted a secret investigation into the background of Khatri and established shocking information about the Speaker and presumptive governor of Mombasa.
For starters, Khatri’s educational background is unknown. The man can hardly construct an English sentence let alone interpret various standing orders of the assembly.
Whereas there are no minimum educational qualifications for a Speaker of the county assembly, persons applying to be Speakers must have the same qualifications as a member of the county assembly. A person is eligible for election as a member of a county assembly if the person is registered as a voter and satisfies any educational, moral and ethical requirements prescribed by the Constitution.
The current Election Act requires MCA candidates to have at least a Form Four certificate. However, Kenyan News Day could not find any verifiable record that Khatri attended secondary school in Kenya.
Kenyan News Day further established that the Johos were facilitating procurement of a degree certificate from one of the local universities in preparation for Khatri’s gubernatorial run. Several local Universities have been approached and are willing to help in exchange for financial compensation.
Khatri first appeared in the Mombasa jetset circles in the early 2000s when worked as one of the right hand men of wealthy tycoon and suspected drug baron Ali Punjani.
During the time he worked for Punjani he trusted and thus was able gained insights into import and export business at the Port of Mombasa enabling him build own networks.
As with many unscrupulous tax evaders operating out of the Port, Khatri also engaged in a syndicate involved in import of stolen luxury vehicles from the United Kingdom which he sold locally to unsuspecting business persons using fake and duplicated registration.
The business was so lucrative because the stolen vehicles were often shipped containerised, disguised as transit cargo but later diverted into local market without payment of import duties. The vehicles were also used to hide hard drugs which they trafficked from international markets into East African region.
As Khatri’s profile grew, he built an impressive portfolio of wealth and brushed shoulders with the enviable wealthy of Mombasa and Dubai.
Eventually, he opted to break away from the Punjani employment which he allegedly also swindled of hundreds of millions of shillings in cash and undeclared shipments of sugar and drugs.
Naturally, Khatri also became a person of interest for Interpol and US Drug and Enforcement Agency due to his ties to South American drug barons.
Today, Abu Joho continues to exert his influence and money to help Khatri acquire a degree and hence be eligible to run for governor.
Several universities have been approached but as at the time of filing this story, sources told us Thika-based Gresta University, where Hassan Joho supposedly earned his second bachelor’s degree, was at an advanced stage of awarding Khatri his fist degree.
Abu’s liking for Khatri stemmed from the fact he was friends with the Speaker’s late father and treats him like his own son. Khatri is reputed to be very generous and has remained obedient, dancing to the whims of the Joho brothers at all times.
It is this generousity that has endeared him to ODM Party Leader Raila Odinga who has also developed a liking for Khatri due to his unlimited financial support to campaign programs and party events. Raila would never therefore oppose a direct nomination handed to Khatri in exchange for a hefty financial donation.
In a recent NTV Swahili news interview broadcast nationally, Khatri underwhelming performance shocked viewers with many Mombasa residents loudly questioning his credentials and wondering how someone who had challenges in expressing himself in a national language could efficiently preside over an entire county assembly.
It appears the influential Mombasa business community is split between remaining loyal to the Johos, who control almost all of the tendering opportunities at the County Government of Mombasa, and demanding that principles of good governance and democracy be applied in Mombasa.
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