Siaya County Governor James Orengo has made major changes in Siaya County’s Executive Committee by revoking the appointment of Finance and Economic Planning CEC Benedict Abonyo Omollo made in 2022.
In a gazette notice dated October 22, the governor appointed George Odhiambo Nying’iro in his place in an acting capacity.
“In exercise of the power conferred by section 31 (ba) of the County Governments Act, I, James Orengo, Governor, Siaya County, re-assign George Odhiambo Nying’iro to be the County Executive Committee Member responsible for Finance and Economic Planning in an acting capacity,” part of the notice read.
“The appointment of Benedict Abonyo Omollo made vide Gazette Notice No. 15365 of 2022 is revoked.”
Orengo also made other adjustments to his public finance management committee including appointing a four-member audit committee consisting of Benard Ouma Siero as chairperson, Jennifer Ayoo Ogola as secretary, and both Anton Ochola Ajwang and Francis Oyulo Ochung as members to serve a period of three years.
Omollo was appointed to the position in a gazette notice dated December 9, 2022, when Orengo took over as governor of Siaya County serving two years before his revocation.
This is not the first time Omollo has been fired from a financial position. In 2015, he was a finance director at the Judiciary before he was fired after allegedly pointing out that allowances for some commissioners were not being taxed.
He also claimed in a petition suing the Judiciary Service Commission (JSC) for wrongful termination that he was being discriminated against based on his tribe. He narrated that after raising the concerns on the untaxed allowances, he had been threatened by one of the commissioners that due to the oversaturation of people from his tribe in the judiciary, some had to go.
His woes did not end there as he was also charged with the loss of Ksh80 million from the judiciary, charges that he termed as trumped-up and were later dropped.
In 2023, Omollo ultimately won back his job along with a monetary compensation of Ksh11 million which included Ksh2 million for damages and Ksh9 million withheld salary during his suspension.
In his ruling, Justice Mbaru said, “There is no justification for such treatment established by the respondent. The court finds the claimant was unlawfully treated and discriminated against by the respondent based on his ethnicity and on this findings, he is entitled to general damages.”
