Kisumu County government has in the recent past hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons and that seems not be ending soon after it emerged that the county recently purchased an old Toyota Prado at a whooping Ksh19 million.
According to reports, the increasing scandals have alarmed residents who have been left wondering if governor Nyong’o is in charge.
Reports by Citizen Weekly, indicate that all Members of County Assembly (MCAs) in Kisumu are officially contractors as they even decide who gets what contracts.
On the spot is the Railway MCA, who constructed a Ksh5 million toilet at Lwangni beach.
Following the recent demolitions, the toilet was brought down, but not before the MCA received his fat check.
Read Also: List Of Senior Kisumu County Officials Reaping Hefty Pays On Suspicious Payroll
A section of the county leadership is also said to have hatched a plot to reap big from the ongoing Kisumu CBD facelift project. The Ksh800 million project is funded by the World bank.
Residents accuse the county leadership of failing to disclose project details.
“Why hide this information from the public? Ironically, a second hand Toyota Prado was recently purchased at a whooping Ksh19 million. The tender team was headed by Haggai Kadiri and, while Eric Angwenyi was a member” the residents said.
According to the locals, the total disregard of procurement guidelines reveals just how low the county has sunk with impunity rocking crucial decision-making processes by the county leadership.
Last month, the residents using the Kisumu County Watch lobby group, wrote to the Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI) boss George Kinoti and the Ethics and Anti-corruption Commission CEO Twalib Mbarak urging them to probe corruption allegations in the Finance and Energy departments within the county government.
Read Also: Kisumu County Residents Want DCI, EACC To Probe Corrupt Finance, Energy CECs
Those expected to be probed include finance CEC Nerry Achar and his energy counterpart Alice Moraa.
The two county employees are being accused of doing business with firms that were not prequalified in 2017/18 financial year and money laundering schemes.
“Sir, Kindly probe a firm by the name Guru IT which was used in the procurement of a tender for e-trade licence, this was a World Bank fully funded project and these people simply make documentations and siphon out payments claiming its Guru IT that did the works,” the lobby group chairman John Jommo wrote.
The lobby group accused local MCAs of being entangled in the alleged scandal.
“The executive and the MCAs are involved in serious malpractice commonly referred to as grassroots projects. These are projects which were not in the 2017/18 budget.
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The Kisumu county MCAs are given blank local supply order forms by the executive where all ward projects estimated at Sh9 million per ward are awarded by the MCAs to their cronies and phony companies then the procurement department is forced to rationalize the documentation,” the letter further states.
As reported by this blog on June 26, nepotism and family patronage can be blamed for the ongoings in Kisumu county with governor Nyong’o condemned for allowing his wife to run county affairs.
Last month, reports emerged that at least 15 individuals on suspicious payroll are reaping big from county coffers.
If the governor doesn’t swing into action it might just be too late.
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