An old adage says that two roosters can not roam in the same street, however the case is different with Wajir County top leadership.
The county’s leadership is one of its kind and never seen before in the country, with two governors both wanting to be in charge.
H.E Ahmed Ali Muktar boasts of being the third governor of the North Eastern county according to his Twitter profile. H.E Amb Mohamed Abdi Mohamud also has Twitter profile reading as the Wajir governor.
It all began when Amb. Mohamed was impeached by MCAs and their decision was upheld by the Senate in May last year even though the Meru court had ordered the two houses not to proceed with impeachment due to a petition that he had filed.
Mohamed, who was elected in 2017 as the second governor of Wajir, was accused of abuse of office, financial impropriety, gross misconduct and violation of the constitution.
The petition filed sought to stop the swearing in of Muktar as governor until the case was heard and determined. The court decided that Mohamed resumes his position until a ruling is made but by the time of the ruling, Muktar had already been sworn in and assumed leadership of the county.
Mohamed however insisted that he is the governor and even showed up for the Council of Governors meeting in Makueni on August 17,2021 in readiness of the devolution convention that was to take place on a later date.
“Attended Council of Governors Meeting chaired by the Chairman H.E Martin Wambora to discuss issues including the upcoming 7th and final Devolution Conference, USAID and DANIDA partnerships with the COG and County Governments among other pertinent issues affecting County Governments,” he said.
Muktar was not present at the meeting since he was in another meeting with Jubilee officials at the party headquarters.
However before that, Mohamed caused a standoff in July 2021 during the Council of Governors meeting in conjunction with National Development Implementation and Communication Cabinet Committee (NDICCC). The former Ambassador of Kenya to Somalia arrived at the convention earlier than his rival and went ahead and occupied a seat reserved for Muktar.
Both Mohamed and Muktar introduced themselves as Wajir County governors thus causing confusion in the meeting that was chaired by Interior CS Fred Matiang’i.
Organizers demanded Mohamed to leave but he defied and only bowed to the pressure when the police intervened.
In September last year, there was drama at the county government offices when Mohamed made his entrance to the county government office in the company of his supporters, ready to take his office. He said that he was willing to work with Muktar as his deputy just like before.
“As politicians let us come together and serve our people. The court has allowed me to work as the Wajir governor and my deputy will work as the deputy until this case is heard and determined,” he said.
More confusion and drama is set to rock in the county for the next few months before elections following the ruling by a three-bench judge on Mohamed’s petition.
The judges reinstated Mohamed describing his ouster as illegal. In the ruling on Wednesday, the Meru High court said that the County Assembly did not show proof of public participation when it began the process of impeaching him.
The court ordered Mohamed to resume office on March 10 and Muktar to take up his initial role as the Deputy Governor.
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