How ‘supreme’ spouse brought down governor
Hillary Mageka @hillarymageka
Embattled Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mahamud yesterday began to walk in the footsteps of his former colleagues who were removed from office over allegations of theft of public resources and bad leadership.
Should the Senate approve his impeachment by Wajir MCAs, Mahamud would join Mike Sonko (Nairobi) and Kiambu’s Ferdinand Waititu who were bundled out of office last year.
Four charges were brought against Waititu and Sonko, including gross violation of the Constitution, abuse of office, misconduct and crimes against national law.
Respective Assemblies and the Senate confirmed the charges and overwhelmingly voted to kick them out of office.
Like Sonko and Waititu, Mahamud is accused of gross misconduct and abuse of office.
The MCAs claim he received kickbacks from contractors and suppliers and engaged in illegal procurement practices.
But there is another interesting charge – abdicating his responsibilities to his wife.
Some 37 MCAs voted to impeach the first-term governor.
Contractor bribes
Like Waititu, whose wife Susan Njeri played a key role in his impeachment after she was accused of siphoning millions of shillings out of county coffers through dubious tenders, Mohamed’s charges include allowing his wife Kheria Omar to take over the running of the county.
She is also accused of illegal dealings with the county government.
Wajir Senator Abdullahi Ali recently told a Senate committee on Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations investigating malpractices in the county that Omar, who is referred to as “Mama Fix It”, is a co-governor who has set up an office where 10 per cent bribes from contractors are collected.
“These issues are real and they are happening in the county,” Senator Ali told the committee chaired by Homa Bay Senator Moses Kajwang’.
“The governor has allowed his wife to literally run county affairs as the de facto authority,” the impeachment motion by Elnur/TulaTula Ward MCA Abdullahi Issack reads in part.
“He (governor) ceremoniously officiates and signs off where necessary for decisions she unilaterally makes based on her own wishes and judgement without due regard to any law.”
He claims it was an open secret in Wajir and beyond that Omar was the “supreme leader” of the county.
2022 politics
“His decision to relinquish the executive powers vested on him constitutionally and derived from the people, amounts to abuse of office and relegation of duties,” the MCAs said in the impeachment papers.
But the governor blamed his political detractors for the impeachment motion.
Mohamud said the 37 MCAs who voted for the ouster motion were being used by politicians in Nairobi.
“The MCAs are being used by some politicians in Nairobi. Some are eyeing the Wajir top seat in 2022.
I want to tell those using the county assembly to spread the gospel that their days are numbered,” the governor said in a statement.
“I have the Wajir people behind me and I will defeat them during the elections. For now, I will do everything through my lawyers to defend my seat.”
Mohamud is accused of changing the Finance Department Chief Officer six times in two years with the intent of distorting institutional memory to facilitate corruption and plunder of public resources.
“The unpredictability of the tenure of the office which is now largely dependent on the constantly changing mood and liking of the governor’s wife has eroded public confidence in the critical department of the County Treasury,” the ouster motion states.
The MCAs have also accused the county chief of nepotism and favouritism in his decisions, contrary to Article 73 (2)(b) of the Constitution.
Mohamud at the same time is accused of violating Article 227 of the Constitution on Procurement of Public Goods and Services and sections 45, 46, 47, 48, 53, 54, 57, 71, and 74 of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act, 2015.
Accounting officers
According to the ouster motion, the governor allowed unqualified people to handle procurement in the department of Roads and Public Transport.
“This has led to the mismanagement of resources allocated to the department,” the ouster motion states.
Besides, the motion claims the county chief allowed the accounting officers of key departments to procure goods and services without any annual procurement plan approved by the relevant County Executive Committee Member based on indicative or approved budget.
The MCAs say that as a result of the governor’s negligence, the accounting officers had engaged in fraudulent procurement activities and had overspend.
“The departments of Roads, Public Transport, Water and Health are the biggest casualties,” the motion states.
Issack also accuses the governor of facilitating corruption by allowing officials to split the development budget into numerous quotations of below Sh4 million to circumvent the procurement procedures.
“The governor has allowed Mr Jeff Mworia, his economic adviser, who was on contract, to act as the head of the County Treasury from March 2018 to December 2018,” the papers claim.
The motion says Mworia, with help of others, irregularly withdrew Sh26.1 million from Wajir County imprests account held at KCB, Wajir branch.
Last month, Mworia, Head of Finance Daud Abdullahi and County Secretary Ahmed Sahal Omar were acquitted of a charge of conspiring to embezzle public fund’s belonging to Wajir County amounting to Sh26.1 million.
Mohamud claims the MCAs did not exhaust all the existing avenues to resolve disputes with the executive but have instead played into the hands of individuals with political intent to destabilise the operations of the county government.
The impeachment motion comes barely eight months after the MCAs filed another motion.
He, however, reconciled with the MCAs after a series of meetings in which he promised to have issues they had raised addressed.
Several court orders have been issued stopping the MCAs from debating the motion, with the latest court order issued by the High Court in Meru.
On Tuesday, the governor’s lawyers served the assembly with court papers despite efforts to block them from accessing the premises.
The governor’s fate is now in the hands of the Senate which will decide whether to uphold or overturn the impeachment.
