Wajir governor elected Council of governors chair

Oct 7, 2024 - 14:24

By Peter Ochieng

There is a new sheriff in town at the Council of Governors (COG).

Wajir governor Ahmed Abdullahi is new chairman, taking over from Kirinyanga’s Ann Waiguru whose second term in office ended on Monday.

Abdulahhi was elected on Monday, in the race that consisted of Nyeri’s Mutahi Kahiga, Tharaka Nithi governor Muthomi Njuki, Kajiado governor Joseph Ole Lenku, and Nairobi’s Johnson Sakaja.

Kahiga will serve as Abdullahi’s vice, for the next one year. Council of governor’s chairperson serves for a one year term, and can only be re-elected once, which makes it a maximum of two years in office.

In October 2023, Waiguru was unanimously re-elected as the COG Chairperson alongside governor Ahmed Abdullahi the Vice Chairperson.

Waiguru was the first woman to be elected as the Council chairperson in 2022, having succeeded Martin Wambora, whose second term as Embu governor ended in 2022.

Previous COG chairpersons are former Bomet county boss Isaac Ruto, who served between 2013 and 2015, former Meru county chief Peter Munya who served between 2015 and 2017, former Turkana’s governor Josphat Nanok, who served between 2017 and 2019.

Former Kakamega governor Wycliffe Oparanya served between 2019 and 2021, before handing over to Wambora led the council between 2021 and 2022.

According to cog.go.ke, the Council of County Governors is a non-partisan organisation established under Section 19 of the Intergovernmental Relations Act (IGRA 2012).

It comprises the governors of the forty-seven Counties. main functions are the promotion of visionary leadership, sharing of best practices and offering a collective voice on policy issues, among other matters.

The Council’s main functions are the promotion of visionary leadership; sharing of best practices and; offer a collective voice on policy issues; promote inter – county consultations; encourage and initiate information sharing on the performance of County Governments with regard to the execution of their functions; collective consultation on matters of interest to County Governments.