Siaya County is on the spot after three residents petitioned the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate suspicious activities within the Assembly.
John Ouma, James Wanga and Irene Atieno, under an umbrella body Siaya County Accountability Network (SCAN), have accused the Assembly of recruiting over 50 relatives and girlfriends of MCAs as interns and putting them on salary without any role.
According to the petitioners, the ‘’interns’’ are reportedly training in fields that have nothing to do with the administrative and legislative roles of the Assembly.
Furthermore, it is alleged that others only make technical appearances in the offices.
“These interns are related to certain MCAs, others are girlfriends. We, therefore, want to know the budget for this internship programme, the policy guiding the internship programme in the Assembly and the level of proof of the trainings that the alleged interns are undergoing,” noted the petitioners in their letter quoted by The Standard.
On the other hand, SCAN highlighted other matters that they want to be probed including having ghost workers drawing salaries without doing any work.
They also want the Assembly investigated for sponsoring a non-existent trip to Uganda where it is alleged that each MCA received Ksh200,000.
According to the petitioners, none of the MCAs was in Uganda for the trip on the alleged dates for their training.
The petitioners have also questioned the construction of the County Assembly complex and the amount paid so far claiming that the contractor was paid Ksh20 million payments despite works not going on.
Likewise, Assembly is also on the spot for over compensation for the public land meant to construct the Assembly Annex as well as the construction of the Speaker’s residence.
However, when contacted for comments, Assembly Speaker George Okode stated that the petition was a diversionary tactic to blackmail the House from its oversight roles.
He warned that the petitioners would be sued for libel and defamation.
