President Kenyatta Has Made Me More Influential, Mombasa Governor Hassan Joho Says

Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho claims that his new-found relationship with President Kenyatta has made him more influential and powerful.

Speaking when he accompanied the President to the launch of Kenya Coast Guard Service in Mombasa, Joho bragged how his closeness to Kenyatta enabled him come to the rescue of Kilifi Governor Amason Kingi who was over the weekend robbed at an airport in Italy.

Kingi was stranded for some hours after his briefcase containing crucial documents including his passport was stolen. A CCTV footage showed a man walking away with the briefcase.

 "Even senior people can lose their passports like it happened to my comrade Kingi. My influential status courtesy of my new found friendship with the president, however, made me help him not to get stranded. I used privilege to call concerned ministry and he was promptly helped," Joho says. 

Governor Kingi was issued with an emergency passport by the Kenyan Embassy in Rome, Italy to facilitate his travel back to Kenya.

 "I sit next to the president. We are very close and that means I am more influential. If I helped my colleague return home with any hitch, there's a lot of goodwill for us to do more together," Joho adds.

After engaging in a bitter war of words last year, Kenyatta and Joho buried the hatchet in June and pledged to work together in line with the President's March 9th handshake with Opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The two were spotted spending time together during the recently concluded Climate Summit in Paris, France.