Wajir governor’s ouster warning to the corrupt
What you need to know:
- Mr Mohamud is the third governor to be kicked out since the 2017 General Election.
- Ferdinand Waititu, of Kiambu, and Nairobi’s Mike Sonko had earlier been impeached due to their engagement in corruption.
The ouster of Mohamed Abdi Mohamud as Wajir’s governor this week should serve as a warning to other county bosses and public officials. Those found culpable of fraud, misappropriation and mismanagement of public resources should face their fate.
That is the surest way of curbing wastage of public resources.
Mr Mohamud is the third governor to be kicked out since the 2017 General Election. Ferdinand Waititu, of Kiambu, and Nairobi’s Mike Sonko had earlier been impeached due to their engagement in corruption.
The essence of devolution is to spur socioeconomic development at the grassroots. The 2010 Constitution provides for equitable distribution of national resources. It states that counties be allocated at least 15 per cent of revenue collected by the national government. In turn, governors and other county officials are expected to use the cash to develop their regions.
This is the crux of the matter. So much money allocated to counties is never put into proper use. It is lost through fraud, wastage and poor planning. Paradoxically, governors are quick to issue demands to The National Treasury whenever their allocations delay. Not that they should not complain. But the point is that they should be accountable for the resources.
The perennial reports of counties having lost huge sums of money through fraud is upsetting. Counties cannot progress when resources are consistently stolen. Perpetrators of such vices must be seized and punished.
Even so, the case of Mr Mohamud is intriguing. His impeachment, as well as gazettement and swearing-in of the new governor, Ahmed Muktar, who was his deputy, moved quite fast. It seems everything had been choreographed. In other instances, governors have been impeached but continued in office since they obtained court injunctions stopping their ouster.
Everybody is equal before the law and, therefore, any governor or other public official who commits a crime should be punished. Public resources must be protected from fraudsters and schemers.
