Wajir South MP Mohammed Adow has called for urgent, equitable investment in northern Kenya, saying President William Ruto’s recent State of the Nation Address largely ignored a region that has historically lagged behind.
Speaking during an interview on Radio Generation on Monday, Adow said leaders from the North felt miffed when the President celebrated progress in other regions while failing to mention development plans for northern counties.
“I was one of the MPs who spoke as soon as the President had finished his State of the Nation Address, and the feeling was, and still is, that the President’s speech had largely ignored northern Kenya,” he said. “Kenya is one nation and it needs to move together.”
Adow noted that the North has suffered so long from under-investment by the national government, creating deep gaps in development indicators.
“There are regions that have been historically marginalized, who have had very little investment from the center,” he said. “Those are the regions that are pulling Kenya down.”
The MP argued that while he takes no issue with the President highlighting road dualisation and infrastructure expansion in other regions, it was unfair to overlook areas still waiting for basic connectivity.
He said the concern was not about rejecting the speech entirely, but about highlighting the imbalance.
This comes barely two weeks after the President's State of The Nation address in Parliament, where leaders from Northern Kenya, led by Wajir North MP Ibrahim Saney, accused President William Ruto of neglecting and failing to address their agendas such as pastoralism, dualing of their roads, and investing heavily in infrastructure.
Adow clarified further, “That’s not to say that we are in total disagreement with the entire speech. There was a great vision there from the President, and it is by dreaming, by having that vision, that usually nations get to where they want.”
He praised the ambition but warned that obstacles stand in the way of the President’s targets.
“The elephant in the room is corruption, which is fast becoming our national culture,” he said. “Unless you deal with corruption, you cannot talk of being a first-world country.”
Adow questioned the safety of public resources set aside for major projects. “As a taxpayer, what guarantee do I have that that money is not going to go into the wrong pockets?” he asked. “You have to deal with the obstacles to us getting the development we need.”
Despite the criticism of the national speech, Adow insisted that northern Kenya has not been abandoned in terms of development. “Far from it,” he said. “Since devolution, we’ve had billions being pumped into northern Kenya.”
However, he argued that the region now suffers from internal failures as well. “Today, in many parts of the North, we have self-marginalisation,” he said. “The very people who are elected to lead the people are marginalizing their own.”
Corruption within county administrations, he said, has slowed down progress dramatically.
“The speed with which we would have developed has been slowed down by massive corruption in the county governments,” he stated, adding that, unlike before, the national government cannot carry all the blame.
Adow contrasted the current situation with the development record of past administrations, noting that different presidents made different levels of contribution.
He said former President Kibaki gave them at least the first 100 kilometers of tarmacked roads ever seen in the region, while President Uhuru Kenyatta fought the region through policies that undermined education.
“What else do you make of 5,000 teachers being returned to Nairobi with the stroke of a pen, leaving schools and students without teachers?” he asked.
The legislator insisted that the pathway to national progress requires all regions to rise together.
“If we are to get there, we have to remove all these obstacles and Deadwood from our path,” he said, urging renewed commitment to fairness, accountability and shared growth.
