Why Wajir governor was rated best by World Bank in terms of county funds management

Wajir county governor has been cited as the best among the 47 county governors in terms of public funds management.

Students from Wajir Girls Secondary school receive sanitary pads from Wajir governor Ahmed Abdullah. Standing next to him is the Women County MP Ms Fatuma Ibrahim
Photo: WCGPS

In the report titled: “Decision Time: Spend More or Spend Smart”, the World Bank commended the governor for his prudent use of county cash.
Wajir County led a total of five counties that the bank saluted as the best counties in terms of fund management. Among the five counties that were cited as the best performing regional governments in terms of public funds management are Turkana, Bomet, Machakos and Muranga

On the same note, however, the report painted a grim picture of how the 47 counties spend their share of allocated funds. It says that of every sh 100 sent to the counties only sh 20 was channeled towards development, a revelation that could spell doom for the resident of counties that expected growth and proper service delivery.

The report that was released Wednesday last week said only 10 out of the 47 counties met the 30% rule, a move that attracted outrage from the civil society groups.

The World Bank, however, commended the five top counties because they channeled more funds to development than any other county. In the county of Wajir, for instance, the governor commissioned a 25 kilometer of tarmac that is set to cost at least 1.2 billion.

“The rising share of spending on energy and roads reflects the commitment to improve Kenya’s competitiveness and provide the much-needed growth stimulus. Nevertheless, the recent decline in efficiency of these investments is curtailing their potential dividend,” World Bank, the global lender, says.

In a statement sent to media outlets, the governor said his administration has set up 36 new boreholes drilled successfully at a cost of 8m each. The boreholes were drilled in 56 locations, though 20 of them had low water yield.
“We were also able to build 18 pans and 8 mega dams for harvesting rain water,” Ahmed Abdullahi said.

On matters education, the governor explained that his administration recruited 320 Early Childhood Education (ECD) teachers and constructed 62 ECD classes across the county each at a cost of 600,000. He also said that 6 Model ECD schools were constructed in each sub-county.
“Our people have long been neglected. That is why we don’t have a single habitable open market in Wajir. In line with that, we constructed 14 fresh produce markets at a cost of 6M each, refurbished Wajir livestock market, and constructed Soko Mjinga II market,” he further explained.
Wajir County was hard hit by terror attacks, which caused a major educational crisis that has seen non-local teachers seeking transfer to other counties. The latest terror attack was on Friday evening when unknown assailant hurled two grenades at police officers on patrol.
“I erected 6 floodlights in Wajir town. Solar Street lights along one kilometer of the main roads in all sub-county headquarters at a cost of 39M,” he added.