Abdi Mohamed Mohamud is a man who is always under siege. The now impeached Wajir Governor joined active politics nearly 23 years ago when he was first elected as Member of Parliament for Wajir East in 1998. Since then, he has worked for the government in various capacities and is also the director of Abrar Medical Clinic and Young Muslims Association. He has also been a member of Ax Abrar Chemists for years.
He was been impeached by the Senate after being charged with gross violation of the Constitution.
Age
The former Wajir governor was born on 1st July 1955 in Wajir South Constituency.
Education
From 1974 to 1980, he attended Rhamu Primary School. Upon completing his primary education, he joined Mandera Secondary School between 1981 and 1984. From 1985 to 1988, he was a student at Nakuru Medical Training Center.
Career
From 1988 to 1998, he worked under the Ministry of Health as a clinical officer.
In 1998, he successfully vied for the Wajir East parliamentary seat.
From 1997 to 2007, he was also a member of Wajir East of Kenya African National Union. In 2003, he was re-elected to Parliament as Member of Parliament for Wajir East. He also served in the cabinet as Minister of Regional Development Authorities.
In August 2014, he was appointed by the president of the Republic of Kenya Uhuru Kenyatta as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador.
In 2017, he vied for the gubernatorial seat of Wajir. He won the seat and became the second governor of Wajir after Ahmed Abdullahi.
Fake Certificate Allegations
Wajir Governor Mohamed Abdi Mahamud academic credentials were the subject of a long protracted court case that would have seen him lose-but like the proverbial cat with nine lives he survived. In a petition filed by former Governor Mr. Ahmed Abdullahi at the Supreme court, who had lost the 2017 gubernatorial elections to the impeached Governor, accused the latter of forging his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Kampala University. The institution blew hot and cold on the matter and he was finally exonerated by the Supreme Court.
Impeachment
Abdi was impeached on 17th May 2021. 25 senators voted in favor of the ouster motion, two senators voted against the motion, while four abstained. Earlier on, Mohammed Abdi had passionately appealed to senators to be humane.
“I wish to plead with the senators to be sympathetic and not just impeach me just because of one issue. It can be a violation of the Constitution but it is not a gross violation,” he defended himself.
He was impeached after he was found guilty of violation of Act 43 of the Constitution. The committee found him culpable of running down the health Care system in the county thus compromising the right to health of the residents.
The former governor had said this does not amount to gross violation and went on to list some of the good deeds accomplished by his administration. The deeds included: building 50 new health facilities, acquiring a powerful generator to run an oxygen plant in the entire county referral hospital and that the county had 16 operational ambulances.
According to the committee that was chaired by Nyamira Senator Senior Counsel Okong’o Omogeni, the Governor was found guilty of gross violation of the Constitution, County Governments Act, Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act and the Public Finance Management Act.
