Former CS Adan Mohamed launches manifesto in Mandera governorship bid

Former Cabinet Secretary Adan Abdullah Mohamed, alias Mohamed Jari, has launched his manifesto in his campaign for Mandera governor.

Mr Mohamed is among four candidates seeking to succeed Governor Ali Roba, whose second and last term ends in August.

He unveiled a five-point manifesto focusing on social and economic empowerment, land and urban development, energy and environment management and transparency and good governance.

He observed that Mandera is one of the counties with the highest maternal mortality rates, an indicator of the poor state of healthcare.

“We are grappling with a lack of modern and essential medical supplies and equipment [and] the emergency referral services for specialised treatment within the Mandera healthcare infrastructure is below par,” he said.

He said deteriorating referral services and general healthcare are compounded by poor roads, inadequate satellite health facilities and the collapse in referral logistics such as ambulances.

He pledged to increase locals’ enrolment in the Universal Healthcare Coverage (UHC) for better medical care.

Under what he called ‘Jari Care’, Mr Mohamed said his administration would enrol and pay NHIF premiums for 50,000 vulnerable households.

“My administration shall ensure that all health facilities meet the required standards, have running water, are connected to electricity and well managed,” he said.

He promised to breathe life into the ailing Lafey and Kotulo sub-county hospitals, said to have been abandoned by the current administration.

The Governor Roba administration has always cited insecurity in these two areas as the cause of poor health services.

“My administration shall ensure that every sick person requiring medical attention at our health facilities gets the necessary medical attention,” he said.

The former CS pledged to invest in human resources for the health department.

“We shall recruit, deploy, promote, capacity build our staff, provide insurance for our staff and provide good working conditions in Mandera,” he said.

Mr Mohamed noted that Mandera still has the highest level of illiteracy at 70 percent, resulting from poverty and marginalisation of the region.

The county has an acute shortage of teachers, low levels of enrolment and insecurity.

“We shall establish Mandera University as a constituent college of one of the principal national universities but with a plan to develop a training facility that supplies a skilled workforce for the nation,” he said.

Under him, Mandera will have ‘properly’ trained early childhood education teachers, he said.

He plans to expand the school feeding programme to all public ECDEs in all wards to prevent malnutrition and incentivise enrolment.

A ‘twinning’ programme will be introduced in Mandera whereby schools from other parts of the country will be used to mentor local schools with the aim of improving academic performance.

“We shall work with the national government to lobby for a lower entry grade for teacher training colleges for residents of Mandera. This will ensure a local pool of teaching staff for our education centres,” he said.

On youth and women’s empowerment, Mr Mohamed pledged to allocate at least 30 percent of local tenders to youths, women and people with disabilities.

“We shall establish a Livelihood Empowerment Programme (LEP) that will focus on creating more employment opportunities and this will ensure our socio-economic growth,” Mr Mohamed said.

He pledged to allocate at least Sh2.5 billion to a credit facility for youths and women to access.

The former banker said his administration will train women, youths and people with disabilities on successful business models.
With an estimated 75 percent of the local population unable to access clean and safe water, Mr Mohamed promised to develop a water and sanitation strategy for the county.
“To ensure better planning for water and sanitation services, we shall conduct geological water surveys across the county. This will help identify new water sources and areas facing water shortage to expand the utilisation of non-traditional sources that are cost-effective and environmentally compliant,” he said.
The Jari Foundation will be established to support the most vulnerable members of society.
The foundation, according to Mr Mohamed, will be run by an independent professional team that will be subjected to annual audits on how its funds are used.
He promised to offer at least 300 internships at the county and national levels in collaboration with other partners.
Under Mr Mohamed, there will be a county environment day every month in Mandera, with locals cleaning up their surroundings and caring for the environment.
Mr Mohamed is the only governor candidate in Mandera who has launched his manifesto in his attempt to be the next county boss.
Others in the race are Mr Mohamed Adan Khalif of the United Democratic Movement (UDM), Mr Adan Noor of the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) and Mr Hassan Noor Hassan of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).