2022 politics plays out during Senate trial of Wajir governor

The trial of Wajir Governor Abdi Mohamud opened in the Senate on Wednesday with the county assembly that impeached him alleging he had presided over a corrupt administration with kickbacks paid to his wife.

Clan rivalry and politics of 2022 General Election, however, played out during the first day of the trial by a committee appointed by the House to determine whether the charges levelled against the county chief can be substantiated.

Making its case against the governor, the county assembly accused the Mohamud’s family, in particular his wife, Ms Khaira Mohamud, describing her as the real power behind the throne.

“She is the de facto authority who runs the county,” Mr Shueb Barre Mohamed, a member of the county assembly, told the committee, chaired by Nyamira senator Okongo Omogeni yesterday.

The MCA submitted to the committee a document that details millions of shillings he claimed had been deposited in Ms Khaira’s bank account, claiming the cash was kickbacks she received over county tenders.

Mr Mohamed relied on an alleged bank statement that showed that nearly Sh28 million had been wired to her account by different suppliers in the period after 2017 general election.

However, the MCA, who was the second witness of the county assembly, could not explain the authenticity of the document.

The submission of the document was opposed by the governor’s lawyers Paul Nyamodi and Ndegwa Njiru who accused the county assembly of abusing the privileges of the House to prejudice the governor in the trial.

They demanded that the committee authenticates the document before the witness was allowed to refer to it, warning that the damage would have been made if in the final analysis the document is proved to be a forgery.

Meru Senator Mithika Linturi also questioned the authenticity of the document, its source and declared that it did not look like a bank statement.

“From what I can see, it doesn’t look like a bank statement,” he said, demanding that the witness explains its source and the bank in question and how the witness got hold of the document.

Nakuru senator Susan Kihika said the reliance on the document by the county assembly was prejudicial to the governor especially if it fails the authenticity test.

Challenged to explain the source of the document, Mr Mohamed only told the committee that it came from a confidential source he was not willing to divulge.

“The burden on the authenticity of the document lies squarely with the county assembly. They have to explain whether this is a bank statement or not,” Mr Omogeni ruled.

Attempts by the county assembly to summon the family of the governor to testify against him were rejected by the committee which observed that the county assembly can argue its case without summoning the county chief’s relatives.

The county assembly had petitioned the committee to compel the governor’s wife and three children to testify, an application the governor’s lawyers opposed.

The decision by the governor to oppose the application was attacked by Senior Counsel Ahmednassir Abdullahi, the county assembly’s lead lawyer, who accused the county chief of double standards.

“Khaira is everything in this case. Everything rotates around her. She is the centre of gravity and the fulcrum of every corruption in the county,” Mr Abdullahi claimed.

 “No sufficient reasons have been given on why this committee should compel the three members of the governor’s family to appear. The assembly can still build its case around the family and the mess in the county without their testimony,” Omogeni ruled.

Earlier in the day, the governor had told the committee that attempts to remove him from office are motivated by politics and warned that it could interfere with the 2017 power sharing dynamics in the county should he be ousted.

Taking the stand to make opening remarks, Mr Mahamud pushed back claims that he has presided over corruption even as he urged the committee to consider looking into the nature of decision making among ethnic Somalis of North Eastern.

“I urge this community to look at the unique circumstances the Somali community, where I come from, finds itself in its decision making and formation of government at county level,” he said.

“The formation of county governments and their structures in this region is formed through negotiated democracy. This is politics with malice and witch-hunt,” he added.

Traditionally, political seats in northern Kenyan are shared out by elders through a negotiated democracy that involves all the clans.

The aim is to ensure that every clan gets a chance to participate in decision making.