CS nominee for Cooperatives Wycliffe Oparanya estimated his net worth at Ksh 600 million.
While appearing before a Parliamentary Committee for vetting on Sunday, the former Kakamega Governor revealed that his net worth was primarily in the form of buildings and homes he owns.
“My net worth is around Ksh600 million made out of buildings and houses that I reside in,” he told the National Assembly Speaker Moses Wetangula-led panel.
During his appearance, the vocal opponent of the Hustler Fund also made a turn-around of his view of the fund noting that his earlier opinion stemmed from an ignorant point of view due to inadequate information.
He further observed that the Hustler Fund was launched in haste but maintained that it still has the potential to lift people out of poverty.
“I was among the people who were opposing the Hustler Fund and I had not known the facts about the Fund until now that I have been briefed. I think this Fund, if well managed, will take our people out of poverty,” he explained.
He added that once confirmed, he would put structures in place to ensure the Fund is well-managed.
“If you give me a chance, I will make sure that proper structures are put in place so that money given out there to our people is recovered and becomes a revolving fund so that other Kenyans can enjoy it," he noted.
“If you approve my nomination, the first thing I will do is make sure that there is a proper legal framework, and ensure there is a board and staff to manage the fund."
The former Governor of Kakamega County and former Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) Deputy Party also denied all allegations linking him to graft. Earlier, the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) opposed Oparanya’s clearance saying that he received Ksh 56.7 million irregularly
Speaking about safeguarding Kenyans from losing money to cooperatives that go under, the nominee said he would institute a fund to protect depositors’ money.
“As a ministry, because people have lost their money, we want to introduce deposit protection fund as is in banks or deposit guarantee funds so that if an institution collapses, then members of that particular institution have something to fall back to.”
“We must grow cooperatives. That is critical,” he added, “We can create jobs through Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) because they can employ about 15 million people. This is why it has become a pillar of the national government.”
Sunday, August 4, marks the last day of a four-day process of vetting the nominees.
The CS nominee for Public Service and Human Capital Development CS Nominee Justin Muturi, who was the second last to be vetted, estimated his net worth at Ksh 801 million.
"My net worth has increased by 5.6 per cent from Ksh 761 million to Ksh 801 million,” he told the panel.
