The Busia County Matatu operators on Tuesday, February 27, staged protests against Senator Okiya Omtatah, over the ongoing construction of stalls in the area.
According to the protesters, Omtatah filed a case at the Busia law courts, barring the construction of Kiosks on spaces allegedly allocated to matatu operators in the area.
The kiosk construction projects are among the tenders procured illegally, which are currently pending a hearing in a lawsuit filed by the Senator at the Busia Law courts, aimed at rooting out corruption in the county.
“We the bus and matatu operators have been given the priority to to build kiosks in town,” one of the matatu operators stated.
“Omtatah has gone to court stating there are people with money who have bought this stage. Those claims are unfounded.”
Speaking to Kenyans.co.ke, Omtatah highlighted that the protesters had been funded to derail his case, which he elaborated had been filed to expose corrupt individuals within the Busia County Government.
“Those are hired goons. The corrupt people I'm going after are using the money they acquired illegally to pay those goons to make noise. There is nothing of value,” Omtatah assured.
Explaining the situation at the county, the activist noted that tender documents and other records which are supposed to be available to the public were missing.
“I have been perusing Busia records and I have noticed that a lot of things are being done in the darkness,” the Senator stated.
Omtatah further criticised his fellow county officials for their failure to respond to his letters, which he claimed hindered his ability to fulfil his mandate, including monitoring and evaluating county functions.
“I have written letters to them since June last year when I started detecting those scandals. A total of 15 letters and none has been acknowledged,” he stated.
According to Omtatah, the protestors were demonstrating over one of the projects in his lawsuit that was not properly procured, preventing non-residents from other counties from acquiring trading kiosks in the area.
“They are using the kiosks for ethnic cleansing. They are saying Busia is full of Kikuyus and Somalis, and they want to remove them, and they are just small traders,” the Senator explained.
