The cause of Mandera and Wajir county conflicts

There has been a series of politically calculated and mischievous reports circulating the web regarding the causes of Gharri and Degodia conflict. Some unwise Somalians and the Kenya police commissioner have reported that the causes of Gharri and Degodia conflict are because the Gharri people won all of the county political offices or seats. There are also some who say that the conflicts are over the control of resources like grazing lands.  

First and foremost, there is no record of any Degodia person ever held any political office in Mandera County’s history prior to 2007. Thanks to Mr. Kibaki, Mr. AbdulKadir Mohamed was declared a winner of the 2007 Kenya general election for El Wak Constituency. But, knowing tht they were robbed, the Gharri people did not resorted to violence. Not a single Degodia was killed, intimidated or even assaulted by the Gharri people. But now that a Gharri person has won the Mandera North Constituency, the Degodia people who are led by Mr. Adan Keynan and Mr. Abdulkadir Mohamed, began fighting against the Gharri people, when they failed to succeed at the ballot boxes. Now, they are they and their Somali friends are crying as if they are victims.

First of all, in a democratic society people run for political offices and whoever garnered the majority of votes declared a winner. Both Degodia candidates and Gharri candidates ran for Mandera North Constituency in the election and the Degodia candidates ended up losing the election. There are some who says that the election results have been the cause of the fighting because of the Gharri people failed to share with the Degodia clan. However, the cause of the fighting is not mainly because the Degodia lost an election, but because of their intent to grab the Gharri land. The election was run and controlled by the Kenya Independent Electoral and Boundary Commissions in which none of the members are Gharri. So, they declare the winners and the losers.

Since the Somali people are not accustomed to an electoral-college system, it is not surprising to hear them saying that the Gharri people took all positions and failed to share with Degodia clan. In regards to the Kenyan police commissioner’s remarks, it is not surprising either to hear him making such statements because he is being paid to say so by Degodia politicians.

Also, it is not unexpected to hear that Adan Keynan, who is an ex-convict, and his counterparts are now crying for peace and blaming the security forces for not acting enough as his clan’s security guards. Nevertheless, Mr. Adan Keynan is still plotting behind the scenes, leading this conflict to destabilize the Mandera County while simultaneously trying to distance himself from it. So, Mr. AbdulKadir Mohamed and Mr. Adan Keynan both are to blame for this mess.