Revealed: Politicians behind standoff between Wajir county administration and the aggrieved contractors
Nairobi – The bid by contractor to have their pending bills cleared is now creating a fodder for a ensuing political battle stocked by two leading politicians.
On Thursday, residents of Wajir, the administrative capital of the County, woke up to chaos; closed shops and deserted streets. Initially, it was thought that the aggrieved contractors were staging a protests against Wajir county administration over the alleged unpaid pending bills.
The protests, which was slated to continue for three consecutive days, was called off on same day after the local chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, Abdinasir Kontoma announced that the scheduled demonstrations was indefinitely postponed to a later date.
“ We had a meeting with representatives from the county government of Wajir, and we have agreed to give dialogue another chance. This time, we agreed to have a meeting where all the stakeholders, including all the members of parliament, will be present,” Kontoma said.
This was the first time the aggrieved contractors staged a protest. Previously they held a number of press conferences airing their grievances regarding the unpaid pending bills.
Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi unveiled the pending bills verification report a month ago, which he later submitted to the Senate awaiting the relevant committee to give direction.
Sources reveal that section of the aggrieved contractors whose projects are not in the IFMIS payment system and the verification firm was unable to trace the same, have since found solace in protest.
Individuals privy to the aggrieved contractors also reveal that there are powerful politicians whose projects were not captured in the pending bills verification report and they are the ones fanning the unrest and protests leveled against Ahmed-led administration.
Who are these politicians?
In his Jamhuri Day speech, Governor Ahmed stated that there are individuals “who sabotaged the administration of Governor Ahmed Muktar when he allocated 1billion for pending bills.”
It is in the public domain that the advocate and the law firm that stopped the disbursement of the development funds during the tenure of Governor Ahmed Muktar, is a close confidant of Eldas Member of Parliament, Adan Keynan and Former Wajir West MP and now Chairman of Kenya Roads Boards, Ahmed Kolosh.
Latest patterns indicate that the individuals who are behind the push and pull pitting the Wajir county government and the aggrieved contractors indicate that there are drivers behind the scenes. A closer look at the names who submitted the petition to the Senate were formally subcontractors for the two politicians during 2017-22.
The duo are believed to be among the individuals who orchestrated the ouster of former Governor Mohamed Abdi Mohamud, but things fell apart when his successor, Ahmed Muktar fell short of meeting their expectations forcing them to stop the disbursement of development funds through court injunction up until the court reinstated Governor Mohamed Abdi Mohamud in early 2022.
Adan Keynan, who portrayed an image of reviving the political friendship between him and the current Governor Ahmed Abdullahi days after 2022 election, is seemingly retracting his steps back.
While defending the national government and the members of parliament in a thanksgivings event held at a hotel in Nairobi, Keynan castigated North Eastern Governors for what he termed as “self-marginalization”.
“The Government has not marginalised us, but we have marginalised ourselves.
The counties of Northern Kenya have the capacity to turn around the fortunes with the Kshs273 billion remitted from 2013 by the National Government,” Keynan said.
A remarks that was later rebuttal by Wajir county Deputy Governor Ahmed Muhumed.
KRB chairman Ahmed Kolosh is an arch-rival of Governor Ahmed since 2017 election, a beef that costed him to lose Wajir West MP seat.