Siaya County Governor James Orengo has acknowledged reports of suspicious transactions by senior county officials a few days to the August 9 polls.
Senior staff in former governor Cornel Rasanga’s administration allegedly withdrew money amounting to around Ksh.400 million in less than two weeks before the general elections.
A report by the Daily Nation on Wednesday noted that some staff paid themselves large amounts of money while ignoring a moratorium stopping payments of allowances and pending bills.
“The cash was transferred between July 1 and July 13… A closer look at the documents also revealed that the Siaya County executive paid a total of Sh11,254,800 to four individuals – Mr Silvester Douglas Ogolla, Mr Kevin Ochieng Masawa, Mr Anthony Odiwuor Omollo and Mr Muga Erick Omollo – believed to be clerks of various committees in the assembly,” Daily Nation quoted in the exposé.
According to the report, all these payments were made on July 4, where three clerks allegedly received up to five payments in one day, ranging between Ksh. 650,000 and Ksh. 716,000.
Moreover, in a press statement on Wednesday, September 28, Orengo said he was aware of the suspicious activity captured in the report. He also added that the information followed a forensic audit of Siaya’s records his new administration had commissioned.
“This is not news. It justifies the step we have taken to carry out a thorough and comprehensive forensic audit led by a team of experts. This is the only way towards eradicating endemic and systemic corruption in Siaya,” he stated.
Furthermore, Orengo reported that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is also probing cases of misappropriation within the county government, adding that, indeed the treasury in Siaya county is rotten.
Moreover, the governor announced that the county has stopped payment of pending bills until verification and confirmation is done.
“I want to assure the people of Siaya that nothing will be spared, and nobody will be spared within the context of a comprehensive and decisive strategy and solution to this problem,” he added.
Nonetheless, last week, Orengo appointed a seven-member taskforce to carry out a forensic audit of the financial operations of the county government’s previous administration.
The obligation of that taskforce, chaired by former Auditor General Edward Ouko, includes an evaluation, assessment and determination of the county’s human resource establishment and revenue administration with emphasis on the financial years 2020/2021 and 2021/2022.
Meanwhile, EACC has put Siaya County under scrutiny over claims of misappropriation of Ksh.600 million by officials in the previous administration.
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