After serving as Council of Governors (CoG) vice chair, Wajir
Governor Ahmed Abdullahi has been elected to serve as chair, replacing Kirinyaga
Governor Anne Waiguru who served for two terms.
Abdullahi won the seat after an election held at the Safari Park Hotel in
Nairobi where Nyeri Governor Mutahi Kahiga was elected to serve as his Vice
Chairperson.
The 47 governors elected new leadership to steer the council for the next two years as they considered the new health plan, the Social Health
Insurance Fund.
Those in the contest for chairperson were Abdullahi, Kahiga,
Muthomi Njuki (Tharaka Nithi), Joseph Ole Lenku (Kajiado) and Johnson Sakaja
(Nairobi).
Previous CoG chairpersons are; Isaac Ruto
(2013-2015), Peter Munya (2015-2017), Josphat Nanok
(2017-2019), Wycliffe Oparanya (2019-2021), Martin Wambora
(2021-2022) and Waiguru (2022-2024).
Abdullahi is a two-term governor of Wajir County.
He has a robust background in commerce and extensive experience
in auditing and finance.
He is also a Fellowship Certified Public Accountant (FCPA),
the highest rank in accounting.
Abdullahi ventured into politics in 2007.
He contested for the top seat in Wajir in 2013 and won. During
his first term, Abdullahi championed transformative initiatives in healthcare,
and water resource management, significantly enhancing the quality of life in
Wajir.
His leadership has earned him prestigious accolades,
including The Elder of the Order of the Golden Heart of Kenya, recognising his
unwavering commitment to public service and community development.
He lost his seat in 2017 but bounced back to the county’s
top seat in 2022.
Abdullahi who was run on an Orange Democratic Movement party ticket lost the 2017 polls to Jubilee Mohamed Abdi Mohamud.
During his first term, he was also credited with transforming
the former marginalised border county by initiating major infrastructural
projects including the construction of the first-ever tarmac road in the area.
At one time, Abdullahi was ranked the best performing
Governor by the World Bank.
In the 2022 polls, Abdullahi was closely followed by Jubilee
Party’s Hassan Mohammed Adan and former deputy governor Ahmed Ali Mukhtar.
Muktar served for a few months as governor following the
impeachment of Abdi and contested under the United Democratic Alliance party ticket.
In May 2023, the Supreme Court dismissed a petition
challenging the election of Abdullahi as governor.
The petition was filed by Hassan Mohammed Adan.
The decision by the Apex Court was in line with an earlier
ruling by the Court of Appeal which has also struck out a similar petition on the ground that it violated Rule 6 of the Court of Appeal Rules, 2017 which
requires all appeals to be initiated by a notice of appeal.