Garissa County is heading towards the 2027 General Election with a gubernatorial contest that is increasingly being shaped by clan negotiations, competing political ambitions and efforts to build alliances beyond traditional community boundaries.
At the centre of the unfolding succession battle are Senator Abdulkadir Mohamed Haji, former ambassador Mohamed Shidiye, former governor Ali Bunow Korane and former Principal Secretary Abdi Dubat.
Each brings a different political history, professional background and community network to a race that will determine who succeeds Governor Nathif Jama Adam when his second term ends. The contest is also drawing attention to the wider Ogaden political landscape, where clan endorsements are being negotiated alongside competing views about whether elders or individual voters should determine the direction of political leadership.
The developments are significant because Garissa’s politics have long been influenced by relationships among the Awliyahan, Samawadhal and Abduwak communities, as well as the smaller clans and minority communities whose participation contributes to the county’s electoral arithmetic.
In August 2026, the Awliyahan community endorsed Senator Haji as its preferred gubernatorial candidate, formalising a political understanding with Samawadhal that has been described as the Talasame Alliance.
Former governor Korane, meanwhile, has received backing from Abduwak elders, while Dubat secured an earlier endorsement from the Audhaq community.
Shidiye has taken a different position, arguing that political leadership should be decided by voters rather than selected by elders. These developments suggest that the race is not merely about individual candidates but also about competing approaches to representation, community consensus and political coalition-building.
The Talasame Alliance, Shidiye’s challenge and the contest for community backing
Senator Abdulkadir Mohamed Haji enters the gubernatorial contest with a significant political advantage in the form of a formal endorsement from the Awliyahan community and an alliance with Samawadhal.
The two communities’ agreement followed months of consultations involving elders, political leaders, professionals and community representatives. The endorsement ceremony in Garissa town in August 2026 culminated in Haji receiving a certificate recognising him as the Awliyahan’s preferred candidate.
The political understanding is particularly important because Haji belongs to Samawadhal, yet has secured the support of Awliyahan elders, illustrating how negotiations can extend beyond a candidate’s immediate clan affiliation.
Governor Nathif Jama has also publicly backed Haji as his preferred successor while indicating that he intends to seek the Senate seat in 2027.
Haji’s background combines elected politics with business and management experience. He was elected senator for Garissa County in 2022 and has represented the county in the Senate during the current parliamentary term. His parliamentary profile and his late father Yusuf Haji’s long public career provide context for his political standing, although family legacy alone does not determine a candidate’s record or public support.
The current alliance places Haji at the centre of a succession arrangement involving the incumbent governor and influential community leaders. The questions that remain are whether the alliance will hold together as the campaign develops, how Haji intends to widen his support beyond the endorsing communities and what specific commitments he will make on healthcare, education, water, roads, livestock livelihoods and county financial management.
The endorsement is a political development, not an official nomination by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission or a guarantee of votes.
Mohamed Shidiye, the former Lagdera MP and ambassador to Botswana, represents a different strand of the political contest.
He declared his intention to contest the governorship in May 2026, rejecting claims that he had abandoned the race or planned to seek the Senate seat instead. Shidiye belongs to the Awliyahan community, the same community that later endorsed Haji under the Talasame arrangement. That decision has complicated his path within his traditional political base, but he has continued to pursue support beyond it.
In September, he met members of the Degodia community and argued that voters, rather than a small group of elders, should decide who represents them. His position challenges a longstanding feature of local political negotiations and places voter choice at the centre of his public argument.
Shidiye’s diplomatic experience and parliamentary history distinguish him from candidates whose careers have been concentrated in county government. He has served as an elected representative for Lagdera and as Kenya’s ambassador to Botswana.
His campaign now faces a central political question: whether he can assemble a broad coalition across communities while maintaining his criticism of elder-led selection processes. His outreach to the Degodia community signals an effort to widen his base, but the extent of support he has secured remains to be established through further reporting.
His argument also raises a wider democratic question for Garissa: how should traditional community consultations coexist with the constitutional principle that elected leaders receive their mandate from voters? The answer will matter beyond one candidate, particularly as political endorsements continue to influence negotiations over the county’s top seat.
The other major strand of the race centres on Ali Bunow Korane, the former governor seeking to return to office after serving from 2017 to 2022. Korane has said he wants to complete an agenda he considers unfinished, identifying infrastructure, education, health and water as priorities.
He has also proposed a revolving fund for young people to support entrepreneurship, with the intention of helping groups establish businesses without collateral. These proposals provide a starting point for evaluating his campaign, but voters will need details about the fund’s financing, eligibility rules, accountability mechanisms and the way success would be measured.
His previous tenure will also invite scrutiny of the administration’s development record, expenditure, service delivery and the extent to which its commitments were fulfilled.
Korane’s political base is associated with the Abduwak community, and in July 2026 elders from the community endorsed him as their preferred candidate. His position received another boost in late September when former Water Resources Authority chief executive Mohammed Moulid Shurie withdrew from the gubernatorial race and announced support for Korane.
Both men belong to Abduwak, although Korane is from Rer Yahya and Shurie from Rer Gulled. Their cooperation offers an opportunity to consolidate support among sections of the wider community, while Abdiqani Dubat, from Rer Kassim, remains a separate contender.
Korane has also joined the United Democratic Alliance (UDA), having previously been associated with Jubilee. His own public statements emphasise the need to seek votes across the county rather than rely exclusively on clan backing.
Dubat’s Audhaq endorsement and the wider test of political alliances
Abdi Dubat, also referred to as Ambassador Dubat, brings national government and diplomatic experience to the race. He previously served as Principal Secretary in the State Department for East African Community Affairs and, according to reporting in June 2025, was serving as Kenya’s Consul-General in Arusha.
In June 2025, the Audhaq council of elders endorsed him as its preferred gubernatorial candidate following a consultative process involving several aspirants. Dubat welcomed the endorsement and spoke about improving health, water, livestock, agriculture and education, while criticising past administrations over the persistence of development challenges despite the resources available to the county.
His professional background in audit and taxation is also part of the profile he brings to the contest.
Dubat’s position illustrates the complexity of the Abduwak political landscape. The endorsement reported in 2025 was an Audhaq community decision, while Korane’s later endorsement was reported as a decision by the wider Abduwak clan.
Both men have roots within the larger community, but their respective endorsements should not be treated as interchangeable or as proof that every constituent group has reached a single position. Dubat’s continued participation creates a question about how the community’s earlier decision will relate to the broader negotiations now taking place.
Will the candidates remain in competition, seek a negotiated settlement or pursue alliances that extend beyond their immediate community? Those questions require direct responses from the candidates and the relevant elders before any definitive conclusion can be drawn.
The wider field also includes former Ijara MP Ibrahim Abass, whose political history and support base merit continued attention as the race develops. The current contest should not be reduced to four personalities alone: Governor Nathif Jama’s succession arrangements, Shidiye’s outreach beyond his traditional base, Korane’s cooperation with Shurie and the earlier endorsement of Dubat all form part of a wider political process.
The available reporting identifies these developments, but a comprehensive assessment will require updated confirmation of each aspirant’s intentions, party position, endorsements and proposed campaign programme.
Garissa’s gubernatorial race is therefore becoming a test of how traditional political alliances interact with the demands of democratic accountability. Clan endorsements can help candidates organise consultations and build coalitions, but they cannot replace individual voter choice or settle the election in advance.
The decisive debate should centre on the quality of candidates’ proposals, their records in public office, their plans for managing county finances and their ability to deliver services across all communities.
For Garissa residents, the coming months provide an opportunity to demand clarity from every aspirant. Candidates should explain how they intend to improve water access, strengthen healthcare, support schools, expand economic opportunities for young people, protect livestock-dependent livelihoods and ensure that public resources reach residents transparently.
They should also explain how their proposed alliances will translate into an inclusive county administration rather than a narrow distribution of political positions.
As the 2027 General Election approaches, the Talasame Alliance, Shidiye’s challenge to elder-led endorsements, Korane’s effort to return to office and Dubat’s Audhaq backing will remain important developments to follow.
None of these political arrangements, however, determines the final outcome. The central question is whether the candidates can translate their political histories and community networks into credible, countywide programmes that withstand public scrutiny.
That is the standard against which Garissa’s next governor should ultimately be assessed.