Probe graft in Kisumu county, says Raila Odinga
What you need to know:
- Team set up by party says an official spent Sh3.7m to buy house furniture and Sh150m was lost in kickbacks.
- Corruption rife in region rocked by power struggle between Ranguma and his deputy, claims report.
ODM says it has unearthed corruption and procurement scandals in Kisumu County Assembly, the party leader Raila Odinga said on Wednesday.
He said a report had been prepared by a task force set up by the party and that it will be handed over to the state for action against those found culpable.
The county has been rocked by supremacy battle between Governor Jack Ranguma and his Deputy Ruth Odinga, who is Mr Odinga’s sister.
IT'S ABOUT MONEY
Ms Odinga has accused her boss of inefficiency and bad governance and said he was to blame for the low revenue collection in the county.
However, Mr Ranguma has described the conflict between him and Ms Odinga as being about money.
“This war is about money. I have sealed all the loopholes. The other issues they are talking about lie squarely in their docket,” Mr Ranguma had told the Nation on Monday.
Mr Odinga said that areas where evidence proving corruption and procurement malpractices in the county have been mentioned, the party will ask for further investigations by state agencies to punish the culprits.
He was addressing journalists at the ODM headquarters in Nairobi after receiving the report from the five-member task force chaired by Oduor Ong’wen.
“Information on corruption together with the evidence touching on the county assembly and county government will be handed over to the concerned state agencies for further investigations and action,” Mr Odinga said.
He, however, complained that the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission has been sluggish and appears incompetent in handling devolved corruption.
The commission is a State agency whose job is to tackle corruption.
Mr Odinga said many counties were suffering from serious competition for tenders between governors, their deputies, members of the county executives and county assemblies who have formed briefcase companies which they present to compete for contracts.
“Very little money is being spent on development. These is hurting devolution. And I know that the biggest issue here is procurement where governors, assembly members, Speakers and the county executives are fighting for tenders,” he said.
Mr Odinga claimed the government had failed to give direction on how to manage the billions of shillings allocated to counties.
The Kisumu County Assembly has had issues with the local speaker after members ousted Anne Aduol from office.
She has however been reinstated by a local court. (READ: Ravenous MCAs go for county speakers)
In its recommendation the task force said: “There should be a mutual agreement on Adul’s exit as Speaker and a review with a view to nullifying all staff appointments done since October 14, 2014.”
The report alleges that Sh3.7 million was used to buy furniture for an official in the county assembly and that another Sh150 million was lost in kickbacks for the award of a tender to construct the county assembly building.
The report says the assembly service board had encouraged the procurement of goods and services from its own members or firms where its members had pecuniary interest or from certain assembly members.
RAMPANT CORRUPTION
It also recommends an elaborate process of social auditing by ODM to restore order in the county government.
“Many serious allegations were made against the executive. These ranged from rampant corruption in procurement, bribing of county assembly members to undermine the Speaker, nepotism, incompetence and infighting,” says the report.
The taskforce further recommended that the party should abandon conducting party nominations through universal suffrage to avoid chaos during political campaigns.
