Wajir At Crossroads: Why County 008 Deserves A Fresh Start

 

Wajir now at the crossroads, and this is a good place to be. It is at this juncture that the people of Wajir are forced to make decisions about the future that they desire. Evil thrives in darkness. Bad things happen when good people say nothing. 

Wajir’s politicians- rather the clan influence peddlers (Sultans) and the wheeler dealers masquerading as leaders - have taken it this far and we should commend them for forcing Wajir to see what it refused to accept. Wajir should refuse to resign itself to poverty of ideas, irrationality, self-hatred, failed devolution and a cursed future.

For how long should Wajir tolerate bad leadership? A decade of misgovernment has bankrupted the county resulting to absolute poverty, joblessness, arrogance of the ruling class, indiscriminate killings due to clan clashes and wanton theft of devolved resources by all of the politicians and the privileged ilk.

Wajir should not accept to be dominated by the few privileged groups - that sip coffee in upmarket buildings that were bought with looted devolved funds - purporting to draw a roadmap for county 008. A plan that only fits their selfish interests and not the aspirations of the people of Wajir. 

When a county is led by a leader, who has deficit of leadership qualities, intellectual vacuity, and moral and spiritual aridity, that county will be doomed. It takes a great political leader, who is visionary, to remake a damaged county and set it on the pathway to a successful devolution and true economic prosperity.

Wajir’s Millennials and smart generation must realize that their collective efforts would put asunder the mythical grip of the clan power brokers and the privileged few and achieve their most desired political goal of good governance. Devolution is a game changer and it’s unfortunate that Wajir has not benefited from it, the billions devolved  in the last decade notwithstanding. 

The young generation should not be bystanders in the management of the county affairs. They should detest the illegality of politicians representing themselves and not those who elected them into office. They must see beyond the preoccupation of their clans. They must reject the idea of a county government whose operational expenditure always exceeds its developmental budget —a county executive whose members hardly propose any meaningful county development plan. 

The 2022 elections should be the dawn of a new era for Wajir and it should not let the sun go down on this momentum.. So how does Wajir get out of the current political crisis? Go beyond the petty sub- clan thinking - which hasn’t served anyone any good - and recall your MPs, governor, and all representatives. 

Wajir should cause  a ballot revolution and simply elect officials that care like Hussein Abdi Bare of Tarbaj and demand that they serve well, and respect your vote for respect is reciprocal even though unuh know say I special, as Burna Boy sung!