Impeachment of Wajir Governor: Adan Keynan’s hidden role

By: Abdirahman Khalif

NAIROBI—In one of the most elaborate schemes to blackmail the governor of Wajir and get their way on an array of demands, a member of Wajir County Assembly on Tuesday notified the chambers of a planned impeachment motion against the county chief on number of charges.

The motion of impeachment was introduced by the Elnur/Tula Tula MCA Abdullahi Issack Mohamed. He charged governor Mohamed Abdi of failing to account for the money allocated to the county through provision of quarterly expenditure reports to the assembly as required by the Public Finance Management Act.

“The Governor similarly rejected move to remit over Sh70 million meant for operations of the county assembly,” Abdullahi said in the petition.

Governor Mohamed Abdi was also accused of failing to submit to the county assembly an annual report on the implementation status of  county policies and plans.

“The governor has also failed to draft the Medium Term Strategy for the Financial Year 2020/2021,” the motion said in part.

The County administration, the impeachment motion says, exceeded the “expenditure limit of 35 per cent of county government’s total revenue against the law as well as violating the Public Finance Management Act 2015 by operating 19 bank accounts in local commercial banks and not at Central Bank of Kenya.

The mover of the motion, MCA for Elnur/Tula Tula ward vowed to see to the end of the motion if the governor would not have responded within a week.

However, as the bid to rid the governor of his role gains momentum, people in Wajir are beginning to point fingers at the Eldas legislator and Wajir County’s “Good Cop, Bad Cop” Adan Keynan of pulling the strings and running the show behind the scenes. The MP gained the tag for his previous roles in causing problems in the county and attempting to solve it.

During the last year’s similar impeachment motion led by Benane MCA Abdi Mohamed, Adan Keynan led the “reconciliation committee” that brokered the deal that saw the motion dropped during a press conference in Nairobi.

“The leadership demonstrated by Wajir leaders and specifically Adan Keynan, who is the longest-serving MP, and assembly speaker Ibrahim Ahmed Yakub to spearhead the fruitful dialogue is quite commendable,” governor Mohamed Abdi said after the matter was “resolved.”

Asked about the assembly’s bid to remove the governor from office through similar impeachment motion in August last year during an interview with Kulan Post, senator Abdullahi Kabreta dismissed the move as “unending theatric to hoodwink the public,” saying it was all a ploy by “ senior politicians” in the county to get their way.

Locals are already linking the current impasse between the assembly and administration on Keynan due to his close relationship with the mover of the motion who hails from his constituency. Keynan similarly shares close relation with the speaker of the assembly, Yakub Ibrahim.

Towards the end of December, the MCA for Tula Tula led a delegation to meet with the Eldas MP in thanksgiving dinner held in Nairobi following a successful fundraiser for a madrasa in Tula Tula location the previous week.

Sources privy to the matter stated that a fall-out between the governor and Keynan is the reason for the impeachment move.

“(Governor) Mohamed Abdi met with people opposed to Keynan from Eldas Constituency. He informed them that despite giving the constituents their share of county employment and opportunities, it was the area MP to be blamed for failing to create an avenue for equitable sharing of the resources and opportunities created by his administration,” the source said.

From there on, Kulan Post was informed, Adan Keynan initiated calls for the governor to disengage from his close association with group, saying they were his political nemesis.

“The Governor, feeling that the MP was overwhelming him with demands, found in the group an escape route and a haven of protection against Keynan’s threats of opposing his re-election bid,” the sources added.

As the push and pull begins to give way for series of behind-closed door political meetings to iron out the difference, people in Wajir appear to be a little bit wiser this time gauging from their lack of enthusiasm to place their hopes on an already carefully planned “reconciliation” meeting between an assembly with an array of demands and an administration blackmailed from different fronts.