Okoth Obado taken to task over Migori apology trip

Migori Governor Okoth Obado is hard-pressed to explain the source of money used to ferry more than 300 people from the county to apologise to President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House on Thursday.

The trip was necessitated by an incident that occured in Migori last week in which youths heckled and disrupted a presidential function.

And now some local politicians are accusing Mr Obada of diverting county funds meant for development to hire and fuel buses for the mission.

Reports are rife that each member of the delegation was paid a daily allowance of Sh3,500 for the two days that they were in Nairobi.

Deputy House Minority Leader Jakoyo Midiwo and Siaya Senator James Orengo, who are Mr Obado’s harshest critics, say the State House trip was unjustified.

According to one member of the delegation, the original plan was to get at least two people from each ward but the number went up when more people expressed desire to come to Nairobi.

'USED THEIR OWN MONEY'

But according Mr Obado, all those who accompanied him to State House were volunteers who were not paid any money.

“Let those saying that I have misappropriated county funds show me from where I drew the money. These people used their own money to help me seek peace with the Head of State,” he said.

He said that some even flew from Kisumu to attend the meeting.

What has now been dubbed as “apology mission” was almost falling apart after it emerged that Mr Kenyatta would not see them as had earlier been planned. The meeting took place on the second day.

The governor told the Sunday Nation that he felt that he needed to make peace with President on behalf of goons.

“Like Jesus Christ who gave his life for the salvation of masses, I chose to seek peace for future generations of Migori because such an action could actually bring curses to those who did it,” he said.

He regrets that because of the ensuing confusion, Mr Kenyatta was unable to give the region all the goodies he had come with.

But even as Mr Obado sought to clear his name, Mr Midiwo (Gem), Opiyo Wandayi (Ugunja), Peter Kaluma (Homa Bay Town) and David Ochieng (Ugenya) said the trip will not help develop Migori.

Mr Kaluma said Mr Obado shamed the community.

“It was the worst thing to have happened to the Luo community in my political life; I don’t know what they came to do especially when it was evident no proper arrangement was in place,” said Mr Kaluma.

He accused State House operatives of having prior knowledge of the incident but did not stop it to make Nyanza look bad.