Mandera County, the fat flung Kenyan frontier is alive in political opinion over who the governor post 2022 should be.
With the General Elections slated for August 2022, one candidate, former Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohammed, an aspirant in the gubernatorial contest has been rejected.
Two Mandera governance and management experts weighed in.
Unmasking Adan Abdulla Mohammed – By AbdiHassan Abdulla Balla (Kidogo)
No one is contesting the academic prowess of the former CS Adan Abdulla.He is an alumni of both the University of Nairobi and the prestigious Harvard University.
He has been at the helm of corporate world since 1990,s and also served as a cabinet Minister for Trade and Industry, Agriculture and livestock and East African affairs in the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta.
Questions is…..is leadership all about academics? Me thinks leadership is a lot more than that .A leader, ideally is a servant of the people and should therefore be concerned of the people he leads and their needs.
I have been tempted to give a first hand information a bout the person of the Adan Abdulla first as one of the employee of a parastatal that was under his watch during his stint as the Minister for Trade and industry between 2013-2018 and also as asabdhawa who shares an intricate family ties with the good ex minister.
By the time Adan was appointed as Minister for Trade and Industry, I had already served 10 years in KEBS and had risen to the middle management position and was the KEBS officer Incharge at the Moyale Border
point. I also served as the technical focal person for the greater Marsabit, Wajir and Mandera.
From my experience, Adan Abdulla is one man who is least desirable to hold any public office leave alone that of a Governor.His stint in the Ministry of Trade and Industry was a disaster to say the least. He had left trail of destructions.The Ministry of Agriculture and livestock and Export processing zone faired no better under his watch.
The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) in particular , had to bear the brunt of his nepotism, cronyism and corruption.
From the apex ( Board of Directors) to the bottom(Clerks) he had stuffed the institution with members of his very close family so that they can offer each other layers of protection as he positioned them to raid the public coffers while he watches them from a bove. For example, he placed his sister inlaw in the KEBS Board of Directors Incharge of Audit, his nephew as KEBS Director of finance and so on and so forth….
In Moyale , he had demoted and moved the then KEBS officer Incharge and replaced him with another of his nephews- son of his uncle. Incidentally the nephew was nabbed by a contingent of multi-agency security team in Isiolo while ferrying the proceeds of corruption ksh 3.1 million in cash. He was prosecuted and never reported back to Moyale office.
Other members of his family were also implicated in major scandals that shook the country. We all can recall the poisonous sugar and fertiliser that was allowed into the country under his watch. By his very act of omission nay corruption, our beloved country and citizenry was exposed to a great danger.Members of parliament and the public had demanded no less than his sacking by the president.
Adan Abdulla was eventually demoted to a less glamorous ministry of East African affairs. Rumours has it that he even contemplated resigning.
It’s also in the public domain that he had requested the H.E the Governor of Mandera to appoint his brother to the coveted position of the County chief officer for finance. It did not matter to him that the position was already occupied by an equally competent and deserving son of Mandera county.
But the Governor in his own wisdom had decided to keep his competent chief officer in complete disregard to the wishes of the ex minister and much to his ( Adan) chagrin.
Presumably, this is the one single bone of contention between him and the Governor that had led to the fall out which is spinning on to date.
Adan Abdulla has presented himself to the people of Mandera as a candidate for Governship.
He needs to be sincere with himself, his God and certainly the people of Mandera.
He should first account for the 9 1/2years he served as cabinet secretary. What has done that touches the lives of a common man?
Leadership is a platform for self sacrifice to the people you serve, not a platform for self gratification.
Mr. Balla is a Former KEBS employee and current Elwak Municipality manager
Part 1
