ABDIRASHID: Leadership is the missing infrastructure in Northern Kenya

Hon. Mustafa Abdirashid Ahmed MCA Iftin and current Deputy Speaker of Garissa County Assembly./COURTESY

For so many years, Northern Kenya carried the unmistakable scars of marginalisation. Before devolution and before national affirmative funding mechanisms existed, the region’s underdevelopment could reasonably be blamed on historical neglect, distance from power, and weak state presence.

That narrative was widely accepted and deeply felt. Devolution was therefore not just a constitutional reform but a promise of justice. Power, resources, and decision-making were brought closer to the people, with the expectation that the region would finally chart its own development path.

More than a decade later, the question that now confronts us is no longer whether Northern Kenya has been funded, but why that funding has failed to translate into meaningful change.

Since 2013, counties in the region have received unprecedented financial allocations from the national government. Equitable share transfers, NG-CDF, NGAF, Equalisation fund, conditional grants, National Government supported programmes and donor-support have collectively injected tens of billions of shillings into the North.

In reality, this should have marked a turning point. Basic infrastructure should have improved, livelihoods strengthened, and resilience to climate shocks firmly established. Yet the everyday reality for many residents remains stubbornly unchanged.

Water scarcity persists, health facilities struggle, roads deteriorate quickly, and economic opportunity remains thin. The contrast between resources received and outcomes achieved has become too stark to ignore.

This gap has reshaped public opinion. Within the region, frustration is growing as citizens increasingly question what devolution has delivered for them. Beyond the region, other Kenyans now openly express scepticism, pointing to apparent mismanagement rather than marginalisation as the root cause of underdevelopment. This shift in perception is uncomfortable, but it reflects an emerging consensus; the central problem is no longer the absence of money, but the failure of leadership to use it effectively.

Devolution entrusted local leaders with enormous responsibility. With that responsibility came discretion over planning, procurement, and prioritisation. In many instances, however, leadership has fallen short of the demands of the moment. Development agendas have too often been shaped by short-term political calculations rather than long-term public interest.

Projects are launched without proper needs assessments, duplicated for visibility, or abandoned once political value is exhausted. Resources circulate through budgets and accounts, but their impact on people’s lives remains limited. Allegations that public funds are diverted into private investments outside the region persist, reinforcing the perception that leadership has become detached from the communities it serves.

Nowhere is this failure more evident than in the region’s handling of climate-related challenges. Northern Kenya exists between two predictable extremes; drought when rains fail and flooding when they come.

These are not new or unexpected events. They are recurring realities that should have shaped development planning from the outset. Yet responses remain largely reactive. Droughts trigger emergency food relief and water trucking. Floods bring displacement, destruction, and belated damage assessments. Once the crisis passes, planning stalls until the next disaster strikes.

Despite sustained funding, long-term drought mitigation has not been prioritised at the scale required. Investment in resilient water infrastructure such as strategic borefields, water pans, sand dams, mega dams and properly maintained distribution systems has been inconsistent and, in some cases, poorly executed.

Even more striking is the neglect of runoff water harvesting. Seasonal floods carry enormous volumes of water across the region, destroying homes and infrastructure before disappearing unused. With deliberate planning, this water could have been captured and stored to cushion communities during dry periods. Instead, abundance is allowed to become devastation, year after year.

Flood mitigation tells a similar story. Urban centres lack adequate drainage, and enforcement of land-use planning is weak. Settlements expanded into flood-prone areas, while roads and public facilities are constructed without sufficient consideration of seasonal water flows. As a result, infrastructure built at great cost is repeatedly washed away, only to be rebuilt again. This cycle drains public resources and erodes public trust, raising legitimate questions about whether failure has become institutionalised.

The economic consequences of this governance deficit are severe. Local contractors and suppliers who should be central to building a sustainable regional economy have been undermined by chronic delays in payment. Counties accumulate massive pending bills even when funds are available, pushing businesses into debt and collapse. This not only destroys livelihoods but also weakens the local private sector, ensuring that development spending fails to generate lasting economic momentum within the region.

It is important to acknowledge that Northern Kenya still faces structural challenges. Geography, climate vulnerability, insecurity, and historical disadvantages have not disappeared. However, these were precisely the realities devolution sought to address through enhanced funding and local autonomy. To continue citing them as the primary explanation for stagnation, while ignoring leadership failures, is to avoid accountability.

The enduring suffering of communities at a time when the region should visibly be on a different trajectory is therefore not accidental. It is the outcome of choices made, priorities misplaced, and opportunities squandered. The resources were substantial. The mandate was clear. What has been missing is leadership anchored in service, foresight, and integrity.

If Northern Kenya is to move forward, the conversation must shift decisively toward accountability. Transparent reporting of expenditure at ward and sub-county levels, serious investment in climate resilience, settlement of pending bills, and enforcement of planning standards are not radical demands, they are basic governance obligations. Above all, there must be a renewed understanding that leadership itself is a form of infrastructure; without it, roads collapse, water systems fail, and institutions decay.

The era of blaming marginalisation alone has passed. The future of Northern Kenya now depends on whether its leaders are willing to confront hard truths and rebuild trust. Until leadership becomes the infrastructure that holds everything else together, development will remain elusive, no matter how much money flows in.

The author is the MCA for Iftin ward and Deputy Speaker Garissa County Aasembly. A columnist and A playwright.