Wajir governor’s frustration with his Press team

Wajir governor Ahmed Abdullahi with his deputy Abdihafidh Yarow at a past event. The governor is frustrated with his press team. Photo/ COURTESY.

WAJIR—The governor of Wajir County, Ahmed Abdullahi is growing frustrated with his public relations team after the local journalists in Wajir vowed to boycott his events.

The matter has been dragging for the last six months, but the governor only came to know about it on Wednesday when he jetted back to the county after being away to Saudi Arabia for a fortnight. His comeback was only mentioned few times on Facebook by supporters.

The supporters of the governor were disturbed that the event was not featured in any Radio, TV or news website.

On his Wednesday event, for instance, There were no journalist present at the venue of the rally. The reporters from NTV, KTN, KBC and RTN TV declined to offer coverage. They were joined by reporters from the Standard, Nation, Star FM, Risala FM and Iftiin FM.

Journalists from Wajir Community Radio (WCR), the most listened to local station in Wajir County have stopped covering event by the county government after their colleague, the nightly show presenter Qeys Haji Salat was harassed by officers from the governor’s press office four years ago.

“We have stopped giving coverage to governor’s events because of how the press team handle us,”a journalist with a local radio station told Kulan Post in confidence because he is not allowed by his seniors to discuss his work.

The situation worsened lately after the campaigns started taking shape, he added.

It is rumoured that there is an in-fighting within the press team. A section of the team opted not to be seen publicly supporting the policies of the governor. This, the “rebel” group argue, will help them secure their jobs if the incumbent fails to secure his seat in the August polls.

“Unlike eight months ago before the Fai Sultanate nominated a gubernatorial candidate, we are now kept in the dark on the governor’s event and we understand that the governor is not aware about it,” he added.

The divided loyalty is causing the governor a great deal of publicity and media coverage.