How the performance of former Wajir governor is “frustrating” Garissa’s Korane

NAIROBI—The Governor of Garissa has lately found himself a comparison—the former county chief of Wajir.

Governor Ali Korane has severally been compared to the former Governor of Wajir, Ahmed Abdullahi.

In just over three weeks, two high level public speaker; a religious leader and former legislator have both used Ahmed Abdullahi as a gauge to measure the performance of Governor Ali Korane.

Ahmed Abdullahi was the inaugural governor of Wajir from 2013 until his election lose in 2017. President Uhuru Kenyatta mentioned the governor in 2016 during the State of the Nation address at the Parliament as success story of what devolution can do “if better managed.”

In 2017 shortly after the new governors were elected and others retained their seats, the president challenged the county chiefs “to make their counties like Wajir where resource were better utilized.”

For that reason and several other reports including one by the World Bank, people usually see the former governor as a reference of what devolution can achieve when there’s a better manager at the top.

Two weeks ago while giving lecture at a mosque in Garissa, Bashir Sheikh Hassan challenged Governor Korane “to act like governor Ahmed Abdullahi.”

While commenting on the perennial lack of water in several neighborhoods in Garissa, the sheikh wondered how the resource was unavailable despite River Tana flowing right in the middle of the town.

“The former Governor of Wajir (Wajir) managed to make his county water-sufficient despite having no dependable water body,” the sheikh said during the Friday sermon.

And on the weekend, former Lagdera MP and the current ambassador of Kenya to Burundi Mohamed Shidiye again took the former Wajir Governor as an example, saying the county “progressed under his (Ahmed Abdullahi) leadership.”

Garissa town is experiencing severe water problem and the county administration has no plans to end the shortage, at least in the new future.