Governors Okoth Obado, Amos Nyaribo in trouble over ‘missing’ county funds

Nyamira Governor Amos Nyaribo was on Friday taken to task over missing Sh1.4 billion public funds.

Mr Nyaribo had a difficult time explaining to the Senate Public Accounts Committee why his administration could not provide documentation on how the money was spent two years after the funds were used on development projects.

The six-member committee led by Migori Senator Ochilo Ayacko reprimanded Mr Nyaribo for appearing before it with no supportive documents on how the devolved unit spent the money.   

 “Chair, I am new in this office,” said Mr Nyaribo adding that accounting officers in his administration were also new and hence the failure to provide required accounting documents.

Audit queries

The Senate committee is holding its sittings this week in Kisii.  

On Thursday, the committee summoned Migori Governor Okoth Obado who did not show up to answer audit queries.

The committee members waited for the governor for hours in vain only for him to later send text messages saying that he would not be available.

In what the committee termed as ‘droopy reasons’, Mr Obado claimed that a lot of things which needed his attention were happening in Migori.

The committee warned governors against ignoring its sittings and promised to use all possible legal means to ensure that Mr Obado honours the summonses.

The committee, which has summoned the Migori governor on June 4, claimed that Mr Obado had ignored their messages and phone calls.

 “The governor will now have to travel to Nairobi, failure to which we will have him arrested,” said Mr Ayacko.

The Ayacko-led committee said that Mr Obado and the rest of the Migori executive failed to submit requisite documents to the committee and auditors.

Auditor General Nancy Gathungu’s report for the year ended June 2019 flagged a number of irregular expenditures by the county.

Mr Obado’s administration is on the spot over questionable expenditure amounting to more than Sh500 million.

Legal fees

These include payment of legal fees, purchase of fuel for use by county vehicles and payment for road projects.

The latest audit report shows that Migori County residents did not get value for money spent on multi million-shilling projects. The devolved unit is also accused of breaching laws on recruitment and compensation of staff. The county inappropriately paid Sh20.45 million to five law firms.

However, a review of details of the payments revealed that the cases involved disputes between the local authorities and the employees of the county executive.

Further, the Auditor General’s report flagged the expenditure of Sh295.17 million on road projects. The money was used to maintain 98 roads.

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