Three governor aspirants scramble for Jubilee ticket in Mandera

Three gubernatorial aspirants will battle it out for the Jubilee Party’s ticket in Mandera County.

Senator Mohamed Maalim Mohamud, former Cabinet secretary Adan Mohamed and Mr Faisal Abdirahman Abass are all seeking the ruling party’s ticket in their quest to succeed Governor Ali Roba.

While campaigning in Mandera, Mr Abass maintained that he is in Jubilee for life and urged residents to vote for all its candidates.

“I am in the Jubilee Party and I shall remain a member until elections are done. We are asking our people to vote for our candidates so that we can remain strong in Mandera,” he said.

He said he is ready for the Jubilee primaries, adding that the main competition is between him and the former CS.

Not in Jubilee

“We are aware the senator is not in Jubilee but he is only disrupting affairs in the party. We shall be informing the party headquarters of the senator’s plan soon,” he said.

Senator Maalim dismissed Mr Abass’ allegations.

“I am in Jubilee and ready for party primaries. Those saying otherwise are fearing to face me at the primaries,” he said.

This will be the second time Senator Maalim and Mr Abass are facing off.

In December, both faced their clan and Mr Abdirahman was endorsed by the Furkesha Council of Elders under negotiated democracy plans.

Former CS Mohamed has been crisscrossing Mandera County, popularising Jubilee and hoping to clinch its ticket for the August elections.

“Jubilee is my party of choice and I don’t see any competition at the primaries. I will use the Jubilee ticket to be elected the Mandera governor,” he told a crowd in Rhamu town.

“Mandera residents need to understand that any candidate imposed on them is limited and will not perform but only serve his master. We need a leader who is independent and that leader is none other than me.”

Roba’s preferred candidate

He was referring to Governor Roba’s preferred candidate, Mr Mohamed Adan Khalif.

Mr Roba has endorsed Mr Khalif to succeed him. He will run under the United Democratic Movement (UDM) party, which is linked to the governor.

Mr Khalif is the Mandera County Assembly Speaker.

Mr Abass is banking on his business networks to uplift lives and develop Mandera County.

“We are keen on uplifting the livelihoods of our people and we shall ensure all our youths are trained in different sectors. I will support women in Mandera,” he said.

He pledged to ensure a cement factory is set up in Elwak town to exploit the raw material that he said is lying unexploited.

Local teachers

In the education sector, Mr Abdirahman said he will ensure more locals are trained as teachers to help fill vacancies in schools.

He pledged to set up fruit processing factories in Mandera to support local farmers growing watermelons and mangoes.

In the health sector, he pledged to ensure his administration gets the necessary specialists to work in Mandera.

“We shall improve services by ensuring we have the much needed specialists so that our patients are treated locally instead of going all the way to Nairobi, which is expensive,” he said.

Mr Abass pushed for the reopening of official border points to ease the burden of doing business with the neighbouring countries.

“My administration will work with the national government to ensure security improves in Mandera and we shall ensure the customs offices are operational for a better business environment,” he said.