Absentee governors: Why North Eastern county chiefs are facing public wrath

 

Council of Governors Chairman and Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdulahi addresses a press briefing in Kilifi County on February 9, 2026. [Nehemiah Okwembah, Standard]

Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has ignited public discourse on the underdevelopment of the North Eastern region, dividing the political class as residents, professionals and intellectuals from the region weighed in.

“Beyond domestic financing, trillions more have flowed into the region through multilateral development finance institutions, bilateral development partners, United Nations agencies, international NGOs, and other international development partners. Yet, despite this massive inflow of resources, there is no tangible progress to show on the ground,” Gachagua said.

Gachagua has attributed the underdevelopment to a failure of leadership and accountability, claiming leaders of North Eastern devolved units have treated public office as a private investment vehicle.

“They spend most of their time in Nairobi, building apartments in every corner of the city, instead of translating public resources into water, roads, schools and health facilities for their people back at home,” he said in a recent interview.

Reactions from targeted governors have been fast and furious. Council of Governors Chair Ahmed Abdullahi dismissed Gachagua’s remarks, accusing him of spreading falsehoods, using divisive rhetoric and harbouring bitterness.

“Calling us all manner of names and saying our territory is underdeveloped as a result of our inability to manage. If you are fired as a government officer selling relief maize, you don’t have the moral authority to lecture me about corruption,” Wajir Governor Abdullahi said.

Abdullahi maintained that counties from the region had achieved more with devolved funds than the average county in the country.

“How many counties in Kenya have built over 50 kilometres of standard tarmac roads using equitable share? How many have established medical training colleges?” he posed.

However, residents who spoke to The Standard expressed despair. The majority in these counties believe their leadership has long abandoned them.

“It has become common for us to vote for people who retreat to the city and leave us facing hardship that they are supposed to find a solution for,” Mr Hassan Rogow, a resident of Mandera, told The Standard.

He said it is a shame that these leaders get into office without known homes and, after being elected, continue with their city lifestyle, forgetting the electorate.

“We elected Ali Roba in 2013 after elders convinced us that he was the man to bring change in Mandera. He never had a known home and spent about two years residing at a national government facility,” said Rogow.

He went ahead and initiated a project to put up a governor’s residence that cost more than Sh200 million.

Although completed, the official governor’s residence in Mandera has never been utilised.

Ms Halima Dekkow, another Mandera resident, said, “Nobody stays in that magnificent house we call the Mandera governor’s residence. This was a project that used county government funds without a benefit.”

Roba, now Senator for Mandera, while serving as governor constructed two homes in Mandera town and others in Elwak and Banisa. Immediately Mohamed Adan Khalif was elected in 2022 as governor, he moved out of the county speaker’s residence and rented one of Senator Ali Roba’s homes.

For a year, the governor paid rent to the senator in Mandera.

“These people have built homes with devolution but still they don’t stay with us. The longest our governor stays around is a week in a month,” Alio Shukri said.

North Eastern governors have opened offices in Nairobi where they spend a good part of their time instead of operating from their county headquarters.

In the three counties, governors and county executive members hold executive meetings in Nairobi instead of at the county headquarters.

The situation is worse in Garissa, where some executives reside abroad.

“Our situation is totally difficult and nobody can understand how our county government operates. We have senior executive members living abroad. Someone works for the Garissa County government but lives in the United Kingdom,” Ahmed Shakow, a resident of Garissa, said.

Shakow argued that if governors from the region can maintain an opulent lifestyle in Nairobi, what would stop county staff from operating from Nairobi too?

Governor Nathif Jama has two homes in Garissa town that he rarely uses.

“The governor is a man willing to get to Nairobi by road just to run away from dry and dusty Garissa. His two homes are in the hands of workers,” Shakow said.

Just like in Mandera, Wajir Governor Ahmed Abdullahi is also described as an absentee captain.

“When you see our governor around, know he is here to engage clan elders. We know he has a home in Kilifi and another in Nairobi where he prefers to stay to run away from the baking sun of Wajir, where electricity is a mirage,” Hassan Adeno, a resident of Wajir, said.

Another Wajir resident, Dakane Hussein, said the three governors have turned devolution into vehicles for personal profit. “Our governors are never interested in their counties. They seek out clan elders so that anyone disagreeing with whatever they are doing is silenced,” he said.

He added, “They all have built homes in their respective counties but they never stay there. How do you purport to be serving people you don’t interact with on a daily basis?”

The three counties receive the lion’s share of equitable revenue, but they remain underdeveloped, isolated and lacking basic infrastructure.

Locals attribute the lack of progress in the last ten years to poor governance and misappropriation of public resources by elected leaders — most of the region’s elites, they say, play political games.

After hosting President William Ruto recently, Khalif worked with local leaders to charter a plane that arrived in Mandera empty on Friday to take them “home”.

“That plane arrived in Mandera with no passenger aboard. Why could the governor and his team not allow this plane to carry residents who are in Nairobi and struggling to come to Mandera?” Ali Abdi, a resident, wondered.

Khalif had been in Mandera for three days before flying out.

In Garissa, residents who spoke to The Standard said Governor Nathif Jama often visits his office only when funds have been released by the national government or when high-profile delegations from outside the county are in town.

Sources within the county administration said the governor’s presence makes things move, unlike most times when the place looks deserted.

During such events, when Jama is at the county headquarters, there are streams of high-end vehicles into the compound, security is heightened and senior officials make appearances. On normal occasions, there is minimal movement in most departments.

With the absence of officials most of the time, operations at the offices are slow, with only armed police officers manning the gate and a few offices staffed by secretaries.

On Friday last week, for instance, in Garissa only two offices were open, with an official saying staff, including County Executive Committee (CEC) members, only come to the offices during high-profile visits accompanying the governor.

The official also told The Standard that the governor was at the office on Thursday meeting delegations from the Somali Regional State of Ethiopia led by their Vice President Ibrahim Farah.

This was corroborated by the county government’s social media account, which stated that the visit marked Governor Jama’s efforts to foster friendship and cooperation between the two administrations.

“Governor Jama showcased the progress made in Garissa, highlighting achievements in healthcare, water and road infrastructure. The talks aimed at exploring opportunities for mutual benefit and collaboration,” read the statement.

The Standard has established that the governor lives in Nairobi with his family and that at his Garissa home only orderlies — including two cleaners and a cook — remain to keep the residence functional for his next visit.

“There are also boardrooms where he hosts visitors at his house. Most of the time, the governor does his Cabinet meetings at his residence,” said a source within the county administration who declined to be identified for fear of victimisation.

The official said that when the governor is around, most residents who want to see him gather in large numbers, making him avoid his office and hold Cabinet meetings at his residence. Locals understandably come to the office in large numbers to be served because they do not see him often.

“We don’t usually go to the office every day. We only come when the governor is around or there is an event. That is why we are not in the office today,” the official told The Standard by phone.

Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale defended leaders from the North Eastern region and accused Gachagua of trying to mislead the electorate for cheap political gain.

“We are not your cousins, and we will never be. We will stand with President Ruto because he has brought dignity to our people,” Duale said.