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Duale on alleged supremacy battle with Korane, Wajir “handshake” and why referendum push is not priority to pastorals

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NAIROBI—In an exclusive interview with Kulan Post’s Hibaq Ahmed on Thursday, the Majority Leader of the National Assembly talks about his second term as Garissa Township MP, the alleged supremacy battle between him and Governor Ali Korane, the political turmoil in Wajir and whether the people of Northern Kenya should support the Raila-led referendum push.

Hibaq Ahmed: They say all politics is local. It’s been a year into your second term as Garissa Township MP. How are you fairing.

DUALE: Very good. The good people of Garissa Township are great people. They elected me three times on three different parties. They elected me based on my track record. Garissa town had 2 km and now it has 64 km of tarmacked road. It had 3 secondary schools while  today it has got 34 secondary schools—private and public.

It has got 60 Primary Schools, a university (Garissa University College), an upgraded KMTC and national polytechnic. Over 20,000 individuals benefited from my constituency bursary while 15 medical doctors were trained through scholarships I secured.

And since it’s a cosmopolitan town, there’s equity in that constituency. I don’t know if I will serve a third term, but I am proud of them.

Of course when I look at the religious side, we have over 45 Madrasas up from 3 madrasa through collaboration between the local elders, religious leaders, women, youths and the National Government.

You campaigned for Governor Ali Korane, how will you rate him so far?

First of all, (Governor) Korane is a Jubilee governor and I have campaigned for him and I have no doubt that he has what it takes to deliver because he’s previously served as DC, PC and PS. He has the experience and qualification.

It’s only been one year; he is putting the systems in place. He needs the support of the MCA’S, the MP’s and the business communities. Korane is the captain of the ship; the crew and the passengers must also play their role. But if Korane wants to win the next election, he has no choice but to deliver.

In the Somali community, we say you either elect an individual either on experience and performance or a new face. Korane was elected on experience and hid qualifications. But in the next election, that will not count. What will count is what you’ve been able to do with the mandate you had.

That said, I will not leave him myself. I was among the people who endorsed and campaigned for him. There’s no way you can de-link me and Korane because we are jointed at the hip for the next five years. I will make sure we will work together and deliver. One of the areas he has so far delivered 60% is the water issue because my constituents had a problem with it the last five years.

I told the governor to deal with water, health, infrastructure and security.

So at this juncture, it’s safe to assume that you share good relations with the governor because social media was in the past weeks awash with talks of fall-out between you and the governor of Garissa.

You know, there’s something people discuss called gumzo mtaani (grapevine). Not that withstanding, he is my governor. I played a big role in forming this (Garissa) administration. I told you we are jointed at the hip and there’s no way you can differentiate us.

Let’s drive the point home. Is there supremacy battle between you and Governor Korane?

I don’t have the ambition to become the governor of Garissa neither does he want to become the Leader of Majority. The last thing I want to become in this county is a governor. I don’t know where we compete. I’m at the national level while he at the county level.

But you publicly disagreed on many occasions and there was even a time when elders presumed to be from his camp told you to keep off from Idris Mukhtar case. They said you’re fanning the situation.

Those were brokers. Even when they spoke that time, I did not react and I won’t react now. I don’t want to talk to brokers. You know I only respond to substantive statement by the governor or his likes. You know there are people who will insult you because they want few coins from Honorable Duale. Therefore, the same goes for the governor or any other leader.

When I was Bura for an event, I warned people from insulting other leaders just because they want money from the one they are supporting. I call such people hand-out seekers in my constituency.

You are the Majority Leader of the National Assembly and Chairman of the North Eastern Parliamentary Group. That makes you the senior-most political leader from the region. Have you tried to reconcile the leaders in Wajir who are at the Supreme Court in spirit of the Handshake wave sweeping across the country?

Yes, but behind the scenes. I’m one leader who believes that leaders must work together. I believe that unity of purpose is what will take us—the Somali community—to greater heights. When we are divided, our opponents will use that because in this county, we are divided into regions and communities and divisions will weak our collective bargaining power.

We had a problem in Mandera between the Tokumma and Firfirsa factions during and after the elections. We are happy that it is over. In Garissa, I took a deliberate initiative to unite the communities after the elections.

But you know in Wajir, things are different because there are two petition at the Supreme Court—gubernatorial and Wajir West. Despite what’s going on at the corridors of justice, we are one community. As much as we are waiting the outcome of the courts, let’s not divide the communities based on the political seats we aspire to attain.

When I meet governor Mohamed Abdi, I tell him that despite the petition going on it’s your duty to unite the people. When I meet my colleague and former governor Ahmed Abduallahi or Ahmed Muhumed, I tell them not turn the petition into enmity.

I always talk to the members of parliament from Wajir about the importance of keeping the people united because we have a lot coming up particularly the census. We cannot be divided by smaller issue while we have that to deal with.

What’s your take on the talk on amending the Constitution? Does it serve the region good?

You know referendum is provided for in Article 255, 256 and 257. Even you as Kulan Post can collect one million signatures and bring an amendment to the Constitution.

You can bring amendment, but our position is clear. As the chairperson of North Eastern PG, we will not participate in the referendum if we don’t know the questions. We’ve already given our irreducible minimum: if the referendum will about reducing the number of constituencies, I want to assure you that the 105 pastoral MP’s will not agree to it and I’m their patron. Also, merging of counties we will not agree.

I want to say that ‘’saar uu nin kale xirtay ma ciyaareyno’’ (we will not join someone else’s a folklore dance). If the referendum is by ODM, then we will have our own. The issue ODM has is different from the issues pastoral communities have. We will not go to referendum.

Secondly, we have serious developmental issue: we need roads, hospitals and schools and not referendum. We want the people to register in large numbers for the coming census.

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