WAJIR—Governor Ahmed Abdullahi has defended his four-year administration and exuded confidence that he would retain his seat in the August polls.
In an interview with Iftiin FM, Ahmed maintained that his disagreement with section of county leaders was a personal and not a for the common good.
PERFORMANCE
“I was a governor for four years and my performance is clearly out there,” Ahmed said, adding that: “We are a Muslim community and I hope voters in Wajir County will judge me based on that (performance).”
He added that, “I don’t think people will elect a person who will undo the gains we made since 2013.”
Excerpt of the interview.
Q: What are some of the areas you can say you have performed best in?
In the security sector, although it is not a devolved function, we have massively helped set up infrastructure and stepped in where they needed resources.
At Fadhiweyn along the county border between Garissa and Wajir counties, we set up a police post to prevent armed men from invading settlements and causing casualties.
At Gunane and Burumayo, an area riddled with clan clashes, we helped the security forces set up a post. We similarity built a police post at Caqal-Aar (a contested location that occur between Lagdera and Wajir South constituencies.)
In the health and education sector, we opened a medical training school in Wajir after we realised that we were spending more on sourcing for health workers from other counties who are unrealiable and could leave us vulnurable anytime.
So we started training our own to address the gap and our plans will bear fruits in the near future.
We have introduced low-cost housing projects in areas where building materials are not readily available. We’ve already baked the bricks and delivered in several areas within the county to allow residents to build mosques and schools that are not makeshift.
Finally, we are successfully integrating the madrasa and the ECD which has allowed us to partly pay for the salaries of madrasa teachers. That is unprecedented.
Therefore along the way, people and areas that were opposed to my candidature in 2013 are comfortable with me today and are willing to support my second term for office.
It is my wish to continue what I started and I’m confident that people in Wajir will allow me to do that.
Q: A lot of people say that you are an arrogant person. What’s your reaction to that?
People have misunderstood my steadfastness for arrogance. I am steadfast, that’s what people assume as arrogance.
You know, sometimes you have to dismiss personal interest someone has that threatens the shared interest. We cannot disagree on what’s good for the people, the county, the religion and the common good.
Nothing would have been the way it is today had I not been steadfast in my conscience and judgement. Sometimes, you have to dismiss the wave and stand for the truth—at any cost.
I am approachable, but we Somalis are not ready to follow rules and guidelines of engagement. We have to accept the rules and respect them in our engagements.
I accept that I made mistakes along the way and I also admit that my administration has not been successful in addressing every problem due to lack of capacity or resources.
Q: You fell out with the majority of county leaders. Where’s the problem?
Control. They wanted to have total control over the affairs of the county and when I said ‘no’ they started opposing me. And this problem is not specific to Wajir County. It a problem even my Mandera counterpart is dealing with.
I don’t think the fall-out is based on matter that touches on public interest. It was purely personal after I rejected some of the offers that flouted county rules.
