A woman watches as her donkey drinks water at Abaqiq Dam in Garissa County on December 6, 2025.
North Eastern Leaders had a lot of explaining to do last week. The latest school results exposed a lot that has been going on in the area.
Poor infrastructure, lack of reliable water sources, insecurity, perennial famine and the poor examination results posted by schools in the region.
Under-development of Northern Kenya was in the colonial era contributed to by lack of support from the colonial government, which ignored the area as it did not serve its economic interests. The African governments that took over followed the script set by the British and carried on with the status quo.
That all changed, or was hoped to change, with the Equalisation Fund and devolution under the 2010 Constitution. Northern Kenya was to receive additional funding, over and above the equitable share for counties, in order to try and level the playing field when it comes to development.
Fifteen years later, the area has posted the same grim, desperate picture of under-development, and famine continues to ravage residents. Education outcomes haven’t changed either.
What has been infuriating not just to the people of Northern Kenya but to the rest of the country is that the region’s leaders have neglected their people. They took their families and moved to Nairobi permanently as soon as the elections were over. They blamed all the past regimes for under-development even after being allocated funds to help their people compete equally with other Kenyans.
Personal development
The funding was clearly misunderstood by these leaders. They believe the money was for personal development. If former Deputy President Gachagua is to be believed, the leaders have taken the opportunity to build wealth for themselves in Nairobi with the money entrusted to them to help their people. Essentially Northern Kenyan leaders decided to take to corruption.
Mr Gachagua raised a very crucial point that many Kenyans agreed with, politics aside. I am a child of Northern Kenya and will be doing our people a disservice if I do not add my voice to the crucial issues raised not just by Mr Gachagua, but many of us who have been asking questions.
Why are our women still walking miles in search of water instead of having reliable piped water? Why do our children need to be rescued by other counties if they are to transition to higher education due lack of enough secondary schools and colleges despite budget allocation for development of Northern Kenya?
The poor examinations results posted by schools in Northern Kenya time and gain do not seem to bother the leaders. They are happy for their voters to come second best by picking the crumbs in schools, colleges and universities through “positive discrimination”, which means they are allowed in with lower grades than children from other areas.
This is not development or something to be proud of. It is a scheme that keeps North Eastern children at a disadvantage. Relying on sympathy to advance in education is no way to improve skills level and education in the northern Kenya.
North Eastern leaders are so comfortable in Nairobi after abandoning their people that calling a press conference in Nairobi to defend their position did not even look out of place to them.
I take it North Eastern is not the easiest place to travel into but the road networks now are much better than they have ever been. The days of sharing a lorry with goats to travel for days up north are long gone. If North Eastern leaders can afford choppers to visit their rural homes or show up on campaign days, they can afford to do the same and visit their constituents for regular meetings.
Herd mentality
A lot of the ills in northern Kenya are hidden behind the cloaks of religion and culture. The herd mentality among the leaders in the north to fight anyone who exposes their incompetence and run-away corruption is for the central government to tackle. Like Mr Gachagua said, people of northern Kenya have no voice, and the government is silent for political reasons.
Corruption in Northern Kenya is almost a given, and despite data showing it is one of the areas with the most corrupt leaders, little effort goes into ending the vice and protecting money on behalf of the poor people.
For how long are we going to let child mortality go on in the north? For how long are our people going to die for lack of food? For how long are our children going to beg to get better education and education facilities? For how long will the hypocrisy by leaders in the north go on?
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Ms Guyo is a legal researcher, [email protected], @kdiguyo.
