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Citizen Weekly

Sunday 26 April 2015

Nyamira reps on governor’s payroll-claims

Members of Nyamira county assembly have been put on the spot over the manner they were playing their oversight role.
A section of leaders have claimed that the MCAs were using their positions to make fortunes out of the mistakes and corruption deals committed by the county government.
Sources at the county government termed the assembly as “toothless” body because of always being compromised by the county executive whenever there are any mistakes committed arising from financial misappropriation.
The same source revealed that the MCAs cannot afford to point out failures as per their constitutional mandate in Governor John Nyagarama’s government particularly in the ongoing illegal appointment and recruitment because they are major beneficiaries.
Investigations established that the MCAs were part of the recent irregular recruitment of members of the county subordinate staff.
The same source named the county assembly speaker Joash Nyamoko as one of those tasked by Governor Nyagarama with the role of mobilising the MCAs to his residence where deals are hatched to scuttle or protect those implicated in several malpractices in his government.
Further investigations carried out have also established that most of the government bills which go through after it happens the MCAs are compromised  with as little as Sh10,000 as a bribe at the expense of development projects and delivery of service  to the county and the poor residents who gave them the mandate.
 It is also alleged that members of the county executive whose departments are implicated in corruption deals get off the hook after bribing the MCAs who reliable sources say are operating without money after taking huge loans to undertake development.
Currently, there is one MCA from the county whom the governor is allegedly using to bully the MCAs whenever there is a corrupt or mismanagement report on his government.
The MCA also leads clique from outside the assembly who are supporters of the governor to his residence for handouts.
Some of these MCAs through bribes and kickbacks drive expensive cars better than those being bought and driven by MPs.
A notable incident where the MCAs were bribed was after Governor Nyagarama reshuffled his members of the county executive government.
Three days after the reshuffle, the assembly implementation committee under the chairmanship of Peter Maroro dismissed the reshuffle saying it was meant to protect some of the county executive committee members who had been implicated in the embezzlement of public funds.
At a press conference outside the assembly and later at Kebirigo Viongozi Pastoral Centre, Maroro singled out the then executive member in charge of water Andrew Ombati as one of those having been accused of being involved in corrupt deals and was under investigation but the governor chose to move him to the department of health which has the highest budget.
After raising the statement in the press, the committee and other MCAs were later summoned to the governor’s residence where they were compromised and have kept silent over the matter since then.
The approval and confirmation of Erick Ochana is one of the many incidents where money exchanged hands for him to have total backing from the assembly for the seat.
Investigations reveal that majority of MCAs current major business was to unearth scandals in various departments which they use in extorting money from the county particularly those involved.
It has now become clear that the county senior workers are not scared of looting on grounds that they are now protected because they understand the language of the MCAs who instead of their oversight role have immersed themselves in corrupt deals.
The notable departments riddled with rampant corruption cases include public works and roads, procurement, finance and agriculture.

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