President Uhuru did not endorse Amb. Mohamed Abdi for Wajir governor as expected

Mohamed Abdi Mohamud, a candidate for governor in Wajir County. (Kulan Post)

WAJIR—Ambassador Mohamed Abdi supporters were disappointed on Saturday after President Uhuru Kenyatta failed to endorse him for the county top job since he is the only Jubilee candidate.

Unlike last week when opposition leader Raila Odinga endorsed Ahmed Abdullahi for a second term as governor, Uhuru Kenyatta maintained a delicate balance without hurting the relationship he shares with the gubernatorial candidate from the Party for Development and Reforms, Ahmed Muhumed.

The president said both candidate require public support without been seen to support one over the other.

At the event, both Mohamed Abdi and Ahmed Muhumed were offered the opportunity to address the public and they were both invited by the deputy president William Ruto who was emceeing the event.

Ruto invited the candidates in a balanced fashion, inviting the Jubilee women rep candidates Halima Abdille and PDR nominee Fatuma Gedi in sequence. PDR is a jubilee-affiliated party.

In a way, the president was avoiding to get himself involved in the local political arena and his words were measured to avoid backlash.

Meanwhile, Eldas MP Aden Keynan said local women who trade vegetables and fresh produce at the local market are threatened by eviction order by a private developer.

“Those women need your help in addressing that problem because the private developer maintains that the land belongs to him,” he said.

“Soko Mjinga is the biggest market in Wajir and if the eviction order sees the light of the day, the mothers will lose their source of livelihood,” Wajir senator Olow said.

Wajir East member of Parliament Abass Sheikh Mohamed reminded the president of the promise he made in his  last visit. “Mr President, you said you will deliver a high capacity engine for the local KPLC (Kenya Power and Lighting Company). We remain under constant power outage,” he said, expressing the message most resident came to hear Uhuru address.

In his maiden visit to the county on the 20th May last year,Uhuru pledged that he would deliver the engine to address the power outages “in two weeks” since the town is served by an old low capacity engine.