There were celebrations on Wednesday in the border town of Kiliwihiri that has been elevated to a sub-county of Mandera less than two months after Arabia got a similar status.
The announcement was made at a colourful ceremony presided over by Northeastern regional commissioner Nicodemus Ndalana.
Ndalana, who was accompanied by Mandera Deputy Governor Mohamed Arai, area MP Kullow Maalim Hassan, and county and national government officials, stressed the importance of residents working closely with security agencies as the police cannot work in isolation.
"I call on the residents of Kiliwihiri and Banisa to cooperate with security officers and give information on the whereabouts of al Shabaab. My officers are alert and ready to act promptly on any information you give,” he said.
Kullow thanked the national government for elevating Arabia to a subcounty.
“This is a historic day and an achievement as service from both the national and county governments will be brought closer to the people,” he said.
Mandera has a myriad problems among them terror attacks and inter-clan animosity that often result in death and displacement of hundreds of the people.
Deputy governor Arai said the county will operationalise all subcounty offices for all departments of the county government.
Kullow supported the Building Bridges Initiative. He attributed the new sub-county and other developments to "my political correctness".
He said BBI has not come out of the blue. "We struggled for it. My support for BBI has helped me a lot. Let us be sincere to each other. For you to get some things you must be politically correct,” he said.
But former Mandera Central MP Abdikadir Hussein Mohamed urged leaders to scrutinise the BBI document and guide the people on the way forward.
if it captured their interests.
