Viral video contrasts leaders’ flights with residents’ muddy bus journeys in North Eastern

The undated video, shared by X user Abdihakim Keinan, shows a juxtaposition of several Northeastern leaders flying briskly to the expansive region as another pair of videos show derelict buses, filled with area residents, negotiating the harsh terrains, driving down a battered expanse jammed with mud, thickets, and trenches.

The videos appear to have been shot recently when President William Ruto toured Northern Kenya, where he was accompanied by Governors Mohamed Adan Khalif (Mandera), Ahmed Abdullahi (Wajir) and Mohamud Mohamed (Marsabit); Cabinet Secretaries Aden Duale (Health) and Geoffrey Ruku (Public Service); MPs; and regional MCAs.

As is the norm with local presidential tours, huge governmental delegations accompanied the president on his so-called development tour as they arrived in fancy private jets, helicopters, and sleek SUVs to join a president who had himself arrived in an astounding show of might, grandeur, and excesses.

As they all landed in their crisp suits, minted jellabiyas, and fancy keffiyeh, their constituents struggled to make their way to the venues as the buses trodded on, negotiating stormy weather, jagged roads, and brutal conditions to arrive in one piece.

These videos, which went viral on X, once again resurfaced the conversation on the trillions of Kenyan shillings annually funneled to the North Eastern region and how, despite the mind-bogglingly huge amount of sums dedicated for the region's development, North Eastern still remains an underdeveloped swathe of pain and despair as residents drown in extreme destitution and the infrastructure remains woefully neglected.

Despite the billions each county continues to receive, Kenyans noted, the roads are never upgraded, life is never improved, new facilities are never built, schools are never refurbished, the towns are still ghostly, and healthcare is still an unattainable dream for millions of residents.

The debate was kicked off by former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua early this year after he announced his firm agenda of holding North Eastern leaders accountable.

Back in February, Gachagua announced his commitment to ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of public funds allocated to the Northern Kenya counties.

"Our commitment to ensuring accountability and transparency in the management of public funds allocated to the Northern Kenya counties remains unwavering,” Gachagua said.

The DCP leader then-explained that the people of Northern Kenya have faced marginalization and have been held hostage by the clan elders.

"We are acutely aware that the people of Northern Kenya have faced marginalization and have been held hostage by the clan elders and their own elected leaders more than successive governments since independence,” Gachagua added.

"The era in which leaders from Northern Kenya could hide their ineptitude and incompetencies behind Sessional Paper No. 10 of 1965 is firmly in the past. The Constitution of Kenya 2010, along with devolution, devolved funds, equalisation funds, development partners’ funding and the Constituency Development Fund (CDF), has cured these issues progressively and permanently, and the genie is already out of the bottle,” he explained.

His statements back then caused massive outcry with the NE leaders publicly slamming him and even blocking a planned media interview to address the same.

In light of the new videos doing rounds, X users reacted with the same tone and desperation as Gachagua's.

"These politicians should only get voted for if they live in their constituencies and the day they move out is the day their contract automatically exterminates itself. We cannot have leaders living in Lavington and only flying to their constituencies to welcome the president and then fly back for lunch at BBS Mall!" someone wrote on X.

Derrick Gikunda said, "Flying in choppers while their voters struggle with mud and dust is the peak of hypocrisy. How do you lead people whose daily reality you are literally flying over? If we don't teach the next generation the logic to demand real development instead of just "airport promises," we’ll be stuck in this loop forever. Without a strategy, we’re just flying blind."

On his part, Joe Arunda wrote: "We have a great constitution, but we need a complete overhaul of the electorates' mind. Kenyans need a complete emancipation of their mind. Unfortunately, the voters are sadly too illiterate to hold their leaders accountable or to even realize they can vote for better leaders."

While in Madera, the President said that the government would ensure that the once marginalised region keeps pace with development that has been implemented in other parts of the country.

He pointed out that his administration will eliminate the retrogressive politics of discrimination, neglect, hatred and tribalism in the country.

"We will transform the entire country through development projects and programmes, and the Northern Kenya region will be at the centre of that transformation,” he said.