Former Cabinet minister Adan Abdullah Mohamed has launched his bid for the Mandera governor’s seat.
Mr Mohamed, alias Adan Jari, said his priorities if he is elected will be to fight corruption and nepotism in Mandera.
“We will not have room for corruption in Mandera County just like we have experienced with the current regime. A single house has taken 10 years to be completed at a cost of Sh650 million when it was supposed to cost Sh45 million,” he said, referring to the official governor’s residence.
Work on the building, which is nearing completion, started in 2014 and was to cost Sh107 million but it has had different contractors with different costs since.
Mr Mohamed, a former Cabinet secretary for East African cooperation and regional development, said Mandera residents are not getting value for the money spent on projects.
“We have lost a lot of money in the past 10 years and we need to correct that. I am the change that Mandera needs and that is why I offered myself to run for this office,” he told an excited crowd at the Mandera bus park.
“We have people getting contracts because they are relatives of so and so in the county government and that is what we have to deal with in Mandera,” he said.
He said his leadership will focus on providing clean and sufficient water across the semi-arid county.
On drought, he said his administration would ensure no single resident of Mandera suffers.
He said every sub-county will have at least two water bowsers funded by himself to ensure constant water supply for humans and livestock during dry seasons.
“I will ensure we purchase enough hay for the livestock in this dry season,” he said.
He will run on a Jubilee ticket under the Azimio la Umoja coalition. He rallied Mandera residents to vote for Raila Odinga to succeed President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Mr Mohamed faces Mr Mohamed Adan Khalif of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) and the current county assembly Speaker, Mr Mohamed Maalim Mohamud (senator) Mr Faisal Abdirahman and Mr Hassan Noor Hassan (former Education CAS) of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).
A graduate of the University of Nairobi, Mr Mohamed is banking on his vast experience in the private and public sectors to develop Mandera.
Before joining the government in 2013 as a Cabinet secretary for trade and industrialisation, he was the CEO of Barclays Bank, now Absa.
Under negotiated democracy that is largely practised in Mandera, Mr Mohamed was endorsed by the Degodia clan, the second-largest ethnic group in the county.
