President Uhuru invites Wajir South elders, leaders to State House

President Uhuru Kenyatta at the inauguration of the Somali president Mohamed Farmajo. (PPU)

NAIROBI—The Ogaden Supreme Council will meet president Uhuru Kenyatta in its first official engagement since last week when the elders endorsed a governor at a get-together in Wajir town.

The president arranged for the meeting at the State House for a formal introduction with the elders that represent the vote-rich Wajir South. He will also meet their preferred candidates among them the gubernatorial nominee Ahmed Muhumed and Fatuma Gedi Ali for the post of the Women Representative.

A source privy to the meeting told Kulan Post that the Leader of Majority in the National Assembly Aden Duale and the Principal Secretary of the Tourism ministry Ambia Hirsi will also attend the meeting.

“We are going to talk about party politics, but I don’t think we will turn down a request to join the president’s party because the Council has not settle for a party,” the source intimated because he is not authorised by the elder council to divulge the details of the meeting they had in Nairobi on Monday ahead of the State House visit which is slated, probably, for Wednesday afternoon.

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

If the meetings ends successfully, it will deal a blow to Mohamed Abdi campaign because the former Saudi envoy has previously projected himself as the ruling party’s preferred candidate.

Ahmed Abdishakur, a lead team member in the Mohamed Abdi campaign rubbished the possibility of Ahmed clinching the Jubilee ticket. He said the Mwalimu, as he is commonly know by Wajir resident owing to his profession as a teacher, is a long friend to the president and the only candidate who vied on TNA ticket last elections.

“Mohamed Abdi supported Uhuru Kenyatta when he was endorsed by (former) president Moi at Wajir stadium in 2002,”Ahmed said.

The president refers to the Mwalimu as “baba” (elder), he added.

With over 50,000 votes, Wajir South elders have endorsed Ahmed Muhumed as the governor, throwing spanner in the county politics. The endorsement has caused a beehive of politics coming at a time when the voter registration exercise period lapsed.