The Mandera governor’s harvest video sparked wild mockery across Kenya this week after footage showed Mohamed Adan Khalif standing with local elders, holding up a handful of scrawny crops as proof of big farming wins along River Dawa.
The clip dropped in early February, and people couldn’t stop laughing or fuming, especially with fresh heat over 55.9 million shillings blown on seedlings nobody seems to find.
You see the governor in the video, smiling wide next to a few older guys in traditional gear. They wave around some maize cobs and greens that look like they came from a backyard plot, not a massive county project. “Look at our bumper harvest,” one says, but online watchers weren’t buying it.
Comments flooded in fast – “That’s it? For millions?” and “This is what drought money buys?” One viral post called it “the saddest show and tell ever”, racking up thousands of shares on X and Facebook.
The timing was extremely unfortunate. Just days before, on January 31, the Senate Public Accounts Committee grilled Khalif hard about that cash. Auditors dug in and could only track 3 million shillings’ worth of seedlings.
The rest? Locals swore they never received a single seedling. Senators sat stunned as the governor fumbled answers, trying to explain how 55.9 million went poof in a place hammered by drought year after year.
“How many seedlings does that buy?” one pressed, but clear numbers stayed missing. Even worse, questions flew about why maize – a thirsty crop – topped the list in Mandera, where water stays scarce and folks beg for relief food.
Khalif pushed back in the hearing, saying his team handed out plants to over 6,000 farmers to green up the area and fight hunger. “We spread them wide,” he claimed, but without receipts or photos, doubt piled high.
Locals chimed in online, saying they’ve seen no trees sprouting or fields blooming. One farmer from the county told a radio show, “If they bought seedlings, where are they? We’re still waiting for rain, not magic plants.”
That video of the “harvest” just added salt – a few ears of corn waved like trophies, but critics saw a straight insult to taxpayers footing the bill while families scrape by.
Social media turned it into a circus. Memes popped up everywhere: photoshopped images of Khalif planting money trees or cartoons showing empty fields with “55 million gone” signs.
Senators demanded full records, threatening deeper probes if answers don’t come quick. Opposition voices called the whole thing a slap to drought-hit communities still lining up for handouts. “This video mocks us all,” one MP tweeted, sharing the clip to his followers.
We’ve chased county stories across Kenya for years, and this one smells like classic waste — big promises, thin results, and questions dodging left and right. Mandera fights tough odds: endless dry spells, border troubles, and folks needing basics before fancy farms.
Khalif’s team insists the project aimed to turn that around, planting hope along the river. But with auditors spotting holes as big as craters, trust runs low. The governor’s office stayed mum on the ridicule, but whispers say they’re scrambling for proof.
People in Mandera talk about it over tea now. Elders shake heads; young ones scroll clips, laughing bitterly. “We pay taxes for this?” one shop owner in town grumbled to me last visit.
The video’s short, but the fallout lingers. If seedlings really went out, show the fields thriving. Until then, mockery keeps rolling. The Senate pushes for answers; locals wait for real help.
Khalif faces heat to table receipts and visit sites with cameras rolling. Critics say drop the stunts, fix the mess. In a country where corruption stories break hearts regularly, this one hits extra hard in the arid north. Hope the probe digs deep and brings light. For now, that harvest clip stays the punchline nobody wanted.
