Wajir petitioner put to task over claims he negotiated for county job
Wajir Governor Abdullahi Ahmed takes his oath of office following the August 9, 2022.
Former NHIF chief executive officer Dr Hassan Adam, who is challenging the election of Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi, was on Wednesday at pains to demonstrate and prove to court how the August 9 polls were unfair.
Dr Adam was also questioned about a meeting with governor Abdullahi recently where he allegedly sought a top job in the county government before he could withdraw his election petition.
While being cross-examined, Dr Adam was put to task to reveal whether he had negotiated with the Governor for the position of the Speaker of the County Assembly, the county secretary and County Executive Committee member for finance.
The court also heard that the petitioner also allegedly sought the governor’s backing in the 2027 General Election.
He admitted to having met the Mr Abdullahi but disputed negotiating for a position so as to drop the petition.
The court heard that the meeting was through elders at a Nairobi hotel.
“He (Mr Abdullahi) wanted to come to my office, l said we don't meet in the office and we agreed to meet in a hotel at a specific time. I went there at the right time. He was late as l waited for half an hour. The governor came and was ready to accommodate me in his government,” stated Dr Adam.
He added that since his appointment would require vetting, if it comes out that the governor is within the law in the appointment they would back the same.
“I also asked him to look at all communities whether they voted for him or other opponents because he is in office,” he said.
The court also heard that politics in Wajir are largely clan based. Of the 12 Degodia sub-clans, 11 had unanimously endorsed Governor Abdullahi and only the FAI sub-clan to which Dr Adam belongs was indecisive.
The sub-clan had produced four candidates running for the office of the governor (Ugas Mohamed, Mohamed Elmi, Mohamed Abdi Mohamud and the petitioner).
Dr Adam was also pressed to demonstrate his claims that the governorship election was marred by irregularities and illegalities which benefitted Mr Abdullahi.
In addition, he was questioned on his claims that voters were coerced and intimidated to vote for Mr Abdullahi.
Another allegation was that there was “vote swapping, vote padding and supervised voting”. In his response he was unable produce evidence to support the allegations.
Dr Adama was also questioned over claims a large number of voters who cast their ballots were not identified using the Kenya Integrated Management System (KIEMS) kits.
According to the petitioner, the move was irregular but he was unable to demonstrate to the court how the said voters managed to cast their ballot papers without being identified with the electronic kits.
Dr Adam vied for the governor's seat on Jubilee party and lost to Mr Abdullahi of Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party.
He garnered 27,224 votes against Mr Abdullahi's 35,533 votes.
