Residents of Majengo in Mvita sub-county have formed a group that will be championing for their welfare, including land rights.
The Majengo Community Organization is responsible for the recapture of the Ziwani ground, which they believe was being targeted for grabbing by a clique of powerful individuals in Mombasa.
They say their unity is their strength and will not depend on politicians to solve their own problems.
The idea is to encourage Majengo residents to stop being dependent on politicians and start solving their own problems as residents by coming together.
“We have no problem with politicians. They are our brothers and sisters. But we have to show that we can also get things done without the hand of politicians. It is a message that the community can do things for themselves,” Shabir Nurdin, the organizations; vice chair, said.
He spoke during an iftar dinner on Sunday to bring the Majengo community together at Saifee Hall in Saba Saba.
Nurdin led the residents in fighting for the Ziwani ground which they felt was being targeted for grabbing.
The ground is home to Ziwani Youth FC, a football team formed to get youth from Majengo out of the danger of falling into the trap of juvenile criminal gangs and drug abuse.
The ground was “artificially” turned into a swamp with stagnant rain water mixing with sewage.
It stayed this way for almost two years with calls for the Mombasa county government to have it addressed falling on deaf ears for that period.
However, after Nurdin mobilized the residents to protest, the county swung into action.
Today, the stagnant water has been drained and the nearby slum, which had sprouted over the last 20 years, and had become a hideout for notorious criminals, demolished.
The ground is set for upgrading to FIFA standards, after which Ziwani Youth FC will start usimng it again.
The team has been forced to hire alternative grounds to train and use for official FKF matches, an expensive venture for them.
“It is the community that pushed us, as elders in the community, to reclaim our ground. Now our youth will not go astray as we feared,” Nurdin said.
Ziwani ground is responsible for the rehabilitation of a group of dangerous criminals in the 80s and 90s called Kudzacha, who used to kill and maim people in their bid to rob them.
“This group was dangerous. It is responsible for many deaths. It is this ground that helped them reform and now they are key members of society who provide guidance to the youth,” Nurdin said.
Football Kenya Federation Mombasa county chair Alamin Abdallah said football is a serious employer but if talent is not nurtured, all will go to waste.
“That is why we had to save the Serani ground that was also going,” Abdallah, who was instrumental in saving the Serani ground, used by FKF Division 1 side Congo Boys FC, said.
Abdallah Ibrahim, the MCO chairman, said Majengo and Mombasa at large has a lot of talent that is not nurtured because of lack of play grounds.
“I am glad that as a community, we have come together and seen the need to work as one team to tackle our challenges,” Ibrahim said.
MCO member Ibrahim ‘Babangida’ Khamis said the slum that developed next to Ziwani ground had attracted promiscuity, lack of morals and ill behaviour, which had a bad influence on children.
“Play grounds are very important in society. We construct many storrey buildings and beautiful bungalows but our children lack places to go and vent their frustrations. Part of the problems that we have in society, insecurity, drug abuse, prostitution, is because these youth have nowhere to take their excess energy because play grounds have been grabbed,” Babangida said.