Mandera Governor Mohamed Adan Khalif is facing growing pressure after a formal complaint was submitted to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission over irregularities in the recruitment of health workers in the county.
The complaint, written by someone identifying as “A Concerned Resident,” was also addressed to the Commission on Administrative Justice, commonly known as the Ombudsman. The letter, dated April 1, 2025, alleges serious issues with how the Mandera County Public Service Board handled the hiring of health workers.
It claims that the number of people hired went far beyond what was officially advertised, raising red flags about transparency and fairness in the recruitment process.
According to the complaint, only a few job positions were advertised publicly, but the actual number of hires greatly exceeded the official vacancies. For instance, while only one Chief Nutrition Officer position was advertised, the county hired eleven people for that role.
The same issue was reported for the Principal Nutrition Officer job, where eight people were hired despite only one position being advertised. It didn’t stop there. Ten individuals were hired as Senior Assistant Community Health Officers, although there were only two openings.
An even more alarming case involves an Assistant Director role meant for one person but ended up being filled by six people.These actions have raised questions about whether the hiring process followed any rules or if it was simply manipulated to benefit certain individuals.
The complainant believes this points to possible corruption, favouritism, or abuse of office. They argue that such practices undermine merit-based hiring and reduce trust in government systems. The fear is that qualified candidates may have been sidelined in favour of those with connections or political links.
The controversy doesn’t end with the number of hires. The complaint also touches on how the recruited workers were budgeted for. Although the hiring was done during the 2024/2025 financial year, the new workers were told to report on July 1, 2025. This means their salaries will be paid from the 2025/2026 budget, not the one during which they were hired.
This raises suspicions about whether the funds set aside for the 2024/2025 recruitment were misused or diverted elsewhere. It also suggests that the county might be committing funds from a future budget without legal approval or public participation, which is against standard public finance rules.
The Mandera County government, under Governor Khalif, now finds itself under public scrutiny as residents and watchdog bodies demand accountability. The EACC has officially received the complaint, and many are waiting to see whether a full investigation will follow. If the claims are found to be true, this could reveal deep-rooted issues within the county’s recruitment and financial systems.
For now, pressure is building on the governor and his administration to come clean and explain how such irregularities were allowed to happen in the first place.
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