Allegations of rampant corruption have engulfed Bomet County as the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) launches a comprehensive investigation into the misuse of Ksh373 million in public funds. The probe focuses on accusations of theft, conflict of interest, and procurement fraud related to the acquisition of heavy road construction equipment and trucks.
County officials and private entities stand accused of orchestrating a series of fraudulent transactions. The EACC has formally requested a variety of financial and procurement documents from the county secretary to aid in their investigation.
“Kindly provide us with the following original documents: approved budget for FY 2022/2023 and 2023/2024; approved procurement plan for FY 2022/2023 and 2023/2024; procurement requisition; approved memo-seeking approval advertisement,” stated EACC South Rift Regional Manager Ignatius Wekesa in a letter dated July 30.
The commission also demands an advertisement notice, standard tender documents, original tenders from bidders, appointment letters for tender committees, and the tender opening register, among others. “Our officers M. Kemei, M. Njiru, and A. Abdi or any other authorised Commission officer will be available to collect the documents,” the letter added.
EACC Spokesperson Eric Ngumbi declared that those found guilty would face prosecution, and efforts would be made to recover any misappropriated public funds.
Meanwhile, a separate storm is brewing in the Senate where Baringo Governor Benjamin Cheboi faced tough questions over his administration's decision to operate an astounding 304 commercial bank accounts, some with multiple signatories. Appearing before the Senate Devolution and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, Governor Cheboi struggled to justify the existence of so many accounts.
Bungoma Senator David Wakoli grilled the governor on whether the County Treasury had informed the National Treasury and the Controller of Budget before opening these accounts, as mandated by Section 82(1)(b) of the Public Finance Management (PFM) Regulations, 2015. Governor Cheboi explained that the accounts were necessary to manage funds from the Danish International Development Agency (Danida), which supports the county's 273 dispensaries.
“There is nothing sinister about the accounts. We received express instructions from the donors to open the accounts,” he asserted. The governor further highlighted that due to Danida’s stringent conditions, only 36 out of 47 counties had qualified for the second round of funding.
However, Committee vice-chair Catherine Mumma pointed out that a red flag had been raised by Dr Nyakang’o, indicating that the accounts had not been opened in compliance with the law. The situation worsened when it was revealed that some dispensaries operated multiple accounts with differing signatories.
“Can you explain what is happening? Why should a dispensary have so many accounts? Some accounts have up to eight signatories while the law permits only three,” questioned Senator Mbugua. Governor Cheboi responded that the county’s system supports only one account and the additional ones were legacy accounts opened before devolution, which would be closed.
“We will not do anything that compromises the law. We will interrogate it further to ensure we follow the law. We will close the inactive ones,” he assured.
