As election campaigns roll around every five years, Coast residents—like many Kenyans—brace themselves for a deluge of lofty promises.  

Politicians descend with pledges of transformation, only for the same issues to persist long after the ballot boxes are packed away.

In Mombasa, surrounded by the vast Indian Ocean, the irony couldn’t be starker. Access to clean and safe water remains an elusive dream for many residents.

Despite repeated pledges from national and county governments, the taps across the county often run dry.

Mombasa lacks its own water source and relies heavily on supplies piped from Mzima Springs in Taita Taveta, Baricho in Kilifi, and Tiwi boreholes in Kwale.

In its 2013 manifesto, the Jubilee administration declared that every Kenyan would have access to clean, safe running water by 2020.

Around the same period, then-Kisauni MP Hassan Joho promised to “move heaven and earth” to provide clean drinking water by the end of 2016 if elected governor.

Affordable

Fast forward to the 2017 and 2022 campaigns, and the same promise re-emerged. Mombasa’s current governor, Abdulswamad Nassir pledged “sustainable and affordable access to safe water” and vowed to operationalise a seawater desalination plant to offer residents an alternative potable water source.

But to many, these promises have become little more than tantalising mirages—a glimmer of hope that fills the air during elections and vanishes with the votes.

Water isn’t the only issue weaponised during campaigns. Politicians regularly dangle the land question, joblessness, and the status of the Port of Mombasa to court voters, yet solutions remain painfully out of reach.

Recently, President William Ruto announced that the government had allocated Ksh1.5 billion to address the squatter crisis, tasking governors with identifying land.

Mining and Blue Economy Cabinet Secretary Hassan Joho was named to lead the initiative. But within weeks, cracks appeared.

The Senate’s Lands Committee revealed that no such allocation had been made in the supplementary budget.

Nagib Shamsan, a land rights activist and chair of Ilishe Trust, says repeated promises by the president have sparked hope but remain empty without action.

“In December, Mombasa County passed the Ardhi Fund Act to purchase land for squatters. That was a good sign. But we still don’t have clarity. Money is being promised, but where is it going?” he asked.

“The National Land Commission held hearings on historical land injustices, but we still await a verdict. Meanwhile, absentee landlords have suddenly re-emerged after decades. Why now? Who brought them back?”

Shamsan warns that land reforms are often revived during campaigns only to be buried afterwards.

He points out that although Kenya has progressive land laws—including Article 160, which allows for the transfer of unutilized or absentee land to squatters—Parliament has failed to pass regulations necessary for implementation.

“We have the laws. What we lack is political goodwill and proper implementation. The Ministry of Lands and the National Land Commission are failing residents,” he said.

Land injustices

The land injustices at the Coast trace back to colonial laws like the 1908 Land Titles Ordinance, introduced after the 1884–85 Berlin Conference, where European powers carved up Africa.

The ordinance demanded that Coast residents prove land ownership within six months, during a time when many were still enslaved or hiding from colonial authorities.

Former Kilifi Governor and Senate Speaker Amason Kingi notes that indigenous communities were still scattered across the Nyika Plateau in fear of colonial brutality. By the time they returned, vast swathes of their ancestral land had been handed to Arab and Asian claimants.

“The Arabs from Oman, especially, were ruthless,” says Shamsan. “They claimed land and secured documents without ever physically occupying it, expecting this territory to remain under their control due to the reign of Said Sayyid.”

After independence, the betrayal deepened. A constitutional clause upheld all pre-independence titles as valid, permanently disenfranchising locals.

“To fix this, we must amend the constitution to declare all titles issued under the 1908 ordinance as public land,” Kingi argues.

One of the biggest beneficiaries was the Mazrui family, an Omani Arab clan granted 10,000 acres in Kilifi in 1912. The British enacted the Mazrui Land Act in 1914 to safeguard their claim. Although the Kenyan government repealed the law in 1989 and attempted to reclaim the land for squatters, the Mazrui heirs won a 23-year legal battle in 2014.

“Today, around 10,000 families remain squatters on their ancestral land,” says Kingi.

Shamsan adds that corruption at land registries and a lack of transparency continue to worsen the crisis. Kisauni alone is home to over 100 absentee landlords, many of whom abandoned land used as collateral for loans.

“These properties lie idle, generating nothing. Some politicians actively block land transactions out of fear that empowering certain individuals may shift local political dynamics,” he says.

Veteran politician and lawyer Anania Mwaboza believes land and joblessness will remain central issues in the 2027 elections.

“The government should have acted on the President’s promise to settle squatters. There are known parcels—like the 84-acre Plot 117 in Likoni—where the process could have begun,” he said.

“During my tenure, we secured 1,000 acres in Mwakirunge under President Kibaki. Since then, only the Waitiki land issue under President Kenyatta has seen any progress.”

Mwaboza also cited the Dongo Kundu Special Economic Zone, expected to generate over 100,000 jobs, as the next political bargaining chip.

“Funding has been secured, but no one wants to openly discuss it. Why? Because transparency could shift political advantage,” he said.

Pwani University associate professor and political analyst Dr. Hassan Mwakimako says the Coast region should expect the same issues of squatters, landlessness, and water shortage to continue dominating the region’s politics going into 2027.

“The same issues will continue because leaders clearly don’t want to solve the problems. Because those are the platforms they use to lie to the electorate,” says Mwakimako.

Political culture

He argues that Kenya’s political culture must shift to allow citizens greater involvement in shaping party manifestos.

“Manifestos are designed by political leaders, not the people. As a result, leaders are not accountable to citizens after elections,” he said.

Having participated in President Ruto’s 2022 campaign, Mwakimako says Ruto knew exactly what he was promising and even allowed public participation in shaping his agenda—until it threatened to give too much influence to the grassroots.

“Eventually, it was stopped. If he had signed MoUs with counties, he would have been bound to follow their economic proposals. That’s the mistrust that chokes manifestos,” he explained.

Regarding the water shortage in Mombasa, which has also remained a perennial campaign tool, he said the problem of water in Mombasa stems from wastage as a result of leaks.

“Almost 60% of the water entering Mombasa is lost through leaks. Yet water trucks never run dry. And those water trucks bring water at night. That tells you everything. There are cartels profiting from the shortages,” he said.

“That’s why the issue remains unresolved—because it serves political and economic interests.”