MP ACCUSED OF SABOTAGING DEVELOPMENT IN WAJIR COUNTY

Political leaders, professionals, Clergy and residents of Wajir County are now appealing to elected leaders to work harmoniously for the sake of development of Wajir County.

The leaders have been particularly concerned with the conduct of Eldas MP Adan Keynan whom they accuse of restlessly sabotaging the County Executive led by Governor Ahmed Abdulahi.

According to section of Wajir residents, Keynan who is also the chairman of the Public Investment Committee and Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Service Commission has been a big critic to the executive something that has slowed down development. 

Sources say, upon assuming office, he piled pressure on Abdulahi to employ his friends, cronies and political supporters without following the correct procedures. On refusing to bend the law to suit his interest, he vowed to make the governor spend sleepless nights.

After his attempts to procedurally employ his people failed, sources say he used his position as the vice chairman of the parliamentary service commission to ensure he secured them jobs as parliamentary staff. What is worrying is that he has only secured jobs for people from his sub-clan.

Wajir County MPs have now abandoned him leaving him with only a few activists. Already the four MCAs from his county are now working very closely with the executive.

Those who have been closely following political events in Wajir County now say that Keynan has been introducing some Bills in Parliament that only targets the Governors.One such Bill is the National Flag Emblems and Names Amendment Bill, 2013. In this Bill, he hopes to clip the Governors’ wings not to fly the national flag. Another Bill is that of Order of Precedence Bill which deals with pecking order.

He is now said to be working on a Bill that will see the sharing of county resources equally among the sub-counties. It is widely believed that this Bill is specifically targeting Wajir County where he hopes that if the Bills become law, his sub-county which is the smallest at only square kilometers will have equal share with sub-counties some of which are 20,000 square kilometers.

It is being whispered that he now plans to relocate his political base from Wajir County to Mandera County in 2017. This is after he has realized he has become unpopular with the electorate. Claims that the County government of Wajir has not done much are unfounded.

Last week, members of the Parliamentary Committee of health visited Wajir County and commended the Governor for a job well done. To date, more health workers have been recruited and have also operationalised the district and sub‐district hospitals in Wajir town which now for the first time ever work s for 24 hours. New facilities have been opened which were previously closed for lack of staff and equipment.

On water provision, the county government has so far drilled 58 boreholes; another thirty six have been contracted and are at various stages of drilling. Eighteen new water pans with total capacity of four hundred and eighty thousand cubic meters have been dug.

On infrastructure, the design of the 25 km tarmac in Wajir town and its environs is ongoing and the actual roadwork will follow soon. Road works at various stages of completion include‐ graveling of 191.3 km,

grading of another 176.7 km, construction of thirty drifts and bush clearing of 930.4 km.

On Education, the county government has revived the polytechnics by buying learning materials and introducing relevant courses such as electrical and plumbing.

Sources say the residents are glad with the speed at which the county government is quickly delivering services. Already 31 maternity wings have been opened, 14 dispensaries, 14 markets, 8 social halls, 14 ECD modern schools, six irrigation schemes and street lighting in all the sub-counties headquarters.

 Residents are now cautioning businessman Sheikh Burhan to go slow on his association with politicians working around the clock to bring down the county government. He is also known to work closely with Mohammed Abikar who is the self appointed leader of a lobby group known as Wajir Anti Corruption Forum.

The lobby group according to investigations is a brief case and a one-man-show outfit which only exists on paper and whose activities have never been felt on the ground. Sources say its owners only use it to solicit for funds.

There are those who now say that Keynana, Abikar and Burhan must stop their dirty tricks on the county government or their dirty past will be exposed. They claim Keynan is known to have been using his position as PIC chairman to intimidate government officials. They further claim his past record shows that he had been charged with murder in 2003 in the High Court in Nairobi through criminal case No223 of 2003 and an alleged false mileage claims. It is also suspected that one Adan Gedi who failed to qualify for the position of procurement officer is also known to be in the team that is threatening to bring down the county Government.

Residents claim the MP has been making returns on projects funded by the county Government pretending that they were funded by CDF. The controversial projects include boreholes and solar street lights.

It is alleged that he is not comfortable with Abdulahi’s rising stature as one of the most respected governors and as chair of Finance of the governors body.

On his part, Abdullahi is said to have kept studious silence and has concentrated on service delivery. Abdullahi is an independent-minded leader with a knack for consensus building. He is a talented manager with over 15 years' experience in financial management as an auditor with Deloitte & Touche, Business Advisor - Barclays Bank and more recently Finance Director Hass Petroleum.

He has distinguished himself as a brilliant mind, a strong advocate for devolution as the right prescription that will reverse years of marginalization of the county. He is passionate about steering the County's development with special interest in women, youth and children and addressing the root causes of food security, poverty, illiteracy, infrastructure while strengthening peace and cohesion. He is the immediate Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kenya Industrial Estates Limited (K.I.E).