Lobby urges Governor Awiti to immediately sack the corrupt officials.

 Homa Bay Governor Cyprian Awiti{C} consult with one of his lawyers in Kisumu during a court session.A lobby group has urged him to immediately sack some people deemed to be corrupt in his government-File Photo.

By Dickson Odhiambo.

 May 22, 2018.

Lobby urges Governor Awiti to immediately sack the cartels.

A LOBBY Group in Homa Bay County has appealed to the area Governor Cyprian Awiti to immediately sack some of the senior officials working in his government whom they have claimed are allegedly corrupt and have plundered the public funds.

The lobby known as Homa Bay People for Change Movement wants Governor Awiti to act immediately and sack some senior officials in his administration whom they have accused of engaging in corrupt activities that has made the county to lose huge sums of money through alleged corrupt deals.

Addressing the press in Kisumu City on Friday, the group led by its Chairman Obonyo Mireri and Secretary Achila Gogo, accompanied by members George Okech ,Peter Okello, Silas Owii and Samwel Owida, also want the Ethics and Anti-Corruption commission to commence an immediate and thorough investigations into the alleged corruption which has been perpetuated by some few senior officials.

They claim that nearly 30 billion has been disbursed to Homa Bay County since the inception of Devolution in the year 2013 but no meaningful development has taken place since then.

“Since the inception of devolution in 2013, Homa County has received close to shs 30 billion, a third of which should have been allocated to development. This exclude internal generated revenue. To date, our check on the ground from Remba Island in Suba North Constituency through to Kona Kajabedo in Kabondo Kasipul constituency where projects are only well pronounced on papers with no single rooting on the ground, yet total payments have been made,” they said in a press statement.

They claim that a number of projects where the alleged corrupt deals have occurred include health, roads, Education, Water, Agriculture, Sports/Culture/Tourism and Human resources.

“Close to shs 500 million is always allocated to water projects annually, but the results are pathetic despite the Governor himself using water as a clarion call for his election in 2013 and re-election in 2017 while Agri-city project remains the ghost haunting the people of the county. Initially, shs 200million was spent as facilitation for the much publicized project that never was,” they added.

On the issue of roads, the group claims that regarding Kadongo-Gendia Road, it is alleged that sh 112 million was lost through a shadowy company known as Oasis International.

“In the financial year 2014/2015 in the supplementary budget in March 2015, Rapid Results Initiative was adopted to ensure that each ward out of the 40 wards was to receive shs 11.25 million for roads totaling to shs 450 million and nothing was executed,” the Lobby further claim.

They further claim that every financial year since 2013, funds have always been allocated for the construction of Early Childhood Development Classrooms across the country but nothing of the sort have been constructed.

On the issue of sports/ culture and Tourism, the Lobby claims that Simbi Nyaima in Kendu Bay area was allegedly allocated shs 46 million for its fencing, adding that to date nothing has been done yet money was alleged to have been paid by the County Government.

They further want the officials of the Homa Bay County Public Service Board who engaged in the irregular employment of 309 workers who have since been sacked to be held responsible for hiring the employees in the first place.

“The 309 people who were sacked from employment in the name of being irregularly employed yet the officials of the County Public Service Board who gave them letters of appointment are left scot-free.Who is supposed to be surcharged? We demand response from the County Public Service Board,” they further added.

Efforts to get a comment from the office of the Homa Bay Governor through his Director of Communication Maurice K’Aluoch did not bear fruit as he did not answer the Short Text Message this writer sent him by the time of going to press.

The Lobby’s sentiment comes barely a few days after the Homa County Executive Committee Member in charge of Trade and Investment Carilus Ademba claimed that a cartel of four people working at the county Government of Homa Bay is responsible for the mess the county is currently facing in terms of corruption.

Ademba claimed that the Governor of Homa Bay is overwhelmed by the cartels who he said should be removed for any meaningful development to take place in the county.

ENDS: