DCP Party leader Rigathi Gachagua has taken issue with the decision to host this year’s Madaraka Day celebrations in Wajir County, arguing that residents continue to struggle with basic needs such as water, healthcare, infrastructure, and security despite repeated government promises.
In a statement issued on Monday, Gachagua said the national event should have been used to directly confront the long-standing development challenges facing the county, instead of focusing on ceremony. He also questioned government priorities and called for accountability on how public funds have been used in the region.
He said the celebrations should have created space for answers on the living conditions of residents, while taking aim at local leadership for what he described as failure to demand better services.
“It is Madaraka Day again, and the stage has been moved to Wajir County,” he highlighted, adding that as the President addressed the nation from the county, he should “answer several questions to the people of Wajir.”
Gachagua accused some leaders from the region of failing their constituents and instead supporting empty political promises. He insisted that leaders must explain the continued lack of essential services.
“The leaders mobilized to clap and cheer him into fake promises and lies, especially the leaders of Northern Kenya, must tell the people of Wajir why they have no good schools, hospitals, security, food safety, and bad infrastructure, among others,” he stressed.
He further argued that holding the national celebrations in the county risked ignoring the daily struggles of residents.
“holding the celebrations in Wajir is mocking them as they have nothing to celebrate.”
The opposition leader listed several service delivery challenges affecting Wajir County, including poor sanitation systems, unreliable electricity, water shortages, and poor roads.
“Wajir town has no functioning sewerage system, power rationing is their daily pain. They have no water. Feeder roads and main roads in and out of Wajir are in a deplorable state,” he explained.
Gachagua called on the President to account for the impact of government policies on key sectors affecting residents’ livelihoods, including transport, agriculture, trade, and security.
“Please take 20 minutes and tell the people of Wajir what happened to their electricity, roads, security, trade, agriculture, social security, and dignity of their lives,” he noted.
He also questioned whether government investments in infrastructure projects such as stadiums were more urgent than basic public needs like water, healthcare, and education.
“Tell them what more immediate need to them: a stadium or clean water, a sewerage system, schools, or hospitals well equipped?”
The former Deputy President also raised historical grievances, saying leaders should acknowledge past injustices and assure residents of justice and protection.
“You should apologize to the people of Wajir for the Wagalla massacre and assure them it will not happen again,” he highlighted.
The Wagalla Massacre took place between February 10 and 14, 1984, at Wagalla Airstrip in Wajir County, when security forces carried out an operation targeting members of the Degodia community during clan tensions. Human rights groups and survivors say hundreds of people were killed, with some estimates placing the death toll above 1,000, though official figures have varied.
The incident remains one of the most painful historical events in Kenya’s Northern region and continues to be cited in discussions on historical injustices and reconciliation.
Gachagua also called for transparency in the use of public funds, questioning how money allocated to Wajir County through devolution and other development programmes has been spent.
“The People of Wajir must be shown by their leaders and yourself where the over Sh192 billion is since the advent of devolution in 2013 and Billions in CDF,” he said.
Since the start of devolution in 2013, counties in Kenya’s North Eastern region have received large budget allocations under the equitable share formula aimed at reducing historical marginalisation.
Treasury and county records indicate that by 2025, Mandera County had received about Sh116.4 billion, Wajir County Sh94.1 billion, and Garissa County more than Sh80 billion in equitable share funds.
Across the country, counties have collectively received over Sh3.5 trillion since devolution began, with Northern Kenya among the major beneficiaries of national revenue-sharing and equalisation funding.
Gachagua concluded by saying that national progress should be measured by the daily realities of citizens, insisting that development promises must match service delivery on the ground.