Coast leaders urged to take Karisa Maitha’s legacy forward
Former Tourism and Wildlife Minister Emmanuel Karisa Maitha who died of a heart attack while on official duty in Germany in 2004. He has been described as a politician of exceptional character in a ceremony to commemorate 12 years since he died. FILE PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP
What you need to know:
- His son, James Maitha, said his father was a servant leader and a man with a big heart, a rare breed in the political landscape.
- Mr Kassim described Maitha as “a man of the people” who will be remembered for defending the interests of the coastal people for generations to come.
- A local women’s leader Ms Sarah Baya accused the police of harassing mnazi sellers even after the beer had long been legalised.
- Mr Rama Yongo asked leaders to look into the interests of palm wine traders in Mombasa and Kilifi counties.
Former Tourism and Wildlife Minister Emmanuel Karisa Maitha has been described as a politician of exceptional character in a ceremony to commemorate 12 years since he died.
Mr Maitha died of a heart attack in 2004 while on an official visit to Germany to market Kenya as a tourist destination. He was aged 50.
The former Kisauni MP rose from a councillor in Kisauni in the 1970s to become a powerful political point-man at the Coast and an influential Cabinet minister in President Mwai Kibaki’s government.
His son, James Maitha, said his father was a servant leader and a man with a big heart, a rare breed in the political landscape.
“He was a leader who stood for what he believed in regardless of the political circumstances of the day,” he said.
Boxing Association of Kenya Coast Branch Secretary Abdulsalam Kassim described Maitha as “a man of the people” who will be remembered for defending the interests of the coastal people for generations to come.
UNIFIED COAST PEOPLE
“Maitha is the only politician who ever successfully stepped into the oversize shoes of the veteran independence politician Ronald Gideon Ngala in unifying coastal residents and his demise left a huge vacuum in Coast politics,” said Mr Kassim.
He encouraged Coast leaders to work hard and take Maitha’s legacy forward by seeking to address the problems of landlessness, poverty and low education.
He challenged the leaders to continue pushing for the unity of the coastal people.
Mr Rama Yongo, a champion of the coastal palm wine (mnazi), which the minister passionately fought for, asked leaders to look into the interests of palm wine traders in Mombasa and Kilifi counties.
Mr Maitha, popularly known as “Hurricane Maitha”, lobbied for the legalisation of the traditional wine while he was in the Cabinet.
A grassroots leader Mr Kahindi Kunza said Mr Maitha’s death robbed Kenyans and coastal people in particular a phenomenal and a no-nonsense politician.
A local women’s leader Ms Sarah Baya accused the police of harassing mnazi sellers even after the beer had long been legalised.
“As local leaders we demand that the police stop the crackdown otherwise we will be forced to take to the streets to seek the attention of the authorities,” Ms Baya said at the Maitha mausoleum.
