MCA files motion to impeach Siaya Deputy Governor William Oduol
East Asembo Ward Rep Gordon Onguru.
Mr William Oduol could be the first Deputy Governor (DG) to be hounded out of office should an impeachment motion tabled before the Siaya County Assembly sail through.
Mr Gordon Onguru, East Asembo MCA filed a motion seeking to impeach Mr Oduol over claims of abuse of office, gross misconduct and violation of the constitution.
He tabled the motion moments after the Siaya County Assembly adopted a report dismissing graft allegations leveled against the executive by the DG.
"The motion meets the threshold and we will proceed with it not earlier than 29th because the DG has abused his office, and we will also charge him with gross misconduct and violation of the constitution," said Mr Onguru.
Mr Onguru said the specific charges will be outlined in the main motion when tabled.
He accused Mr Oduol of overstepping his mandate and failing to be the governor's principal assistant and instead resorted to playing politics.
"We know he has ambition to be Governor, but he cannot start a fight now to blackmail his boss so as to fulfill his 2027 ambitions," said Mr Onguru.
Siaya Speaker Mr George Okode accepted the motion saying it met the threshold and would be discussed as a full motion after seven days.
He confirmed that the motion had been signed by at least a third of the MCAs at the assembly.
As at Monday, 26 MCAs had already signed to push the Mr Oduol out of office following a fall out with his boss Governor James Orengo.
Mr Ben Adala- North Ugenya MCA described Mr Oduol as inconsiderate and vowed that they will take action against him.
"For gross insubordination to the Governor and the fact that he also did not respect our leader Raila Odinga, we will not let this lie low," said Mr Adala.
North Sakwa MCA Mr Oliver Arika also called for action against the Deputy Governor.
"Someone in the stature of the DG cannot make such baseless allegations without backing them and then go scot free, he must be held accountable for his actions that have tainted the image of Siaya County, " said Mr Arika.
Nominated MCA Dorothy Oinga challenged the DG to resign and seek for an elective seat that will allow him to carry out oversight on the county government.
The County Assembly of Siaya on Monday unanimously dismissed allegations raised by Mr Oduol on corruption and mismanagement in the executive.
The MCAs stated that the graft claims were baseless, lacked substance and were unsubstantiated.
They challenged Mr Oduol to submit all incriminating evidence he has to help weed out corruption after he claimed that he was withholding some crucial information and documents that he was planning to share with relevant investigative agencies.
They spoke during a special sitting where they were considering and discussing a report of the findings of the allegations raised by Mr Oduol.
The 50-page report presented by Mr Sylvester Madialo, who stood in as chairperson of the the General Oversight Committee of the County Assembly detailed the corruption claims by Mr Oduol, responses by the Assembly and recommendations.
On March 23, the MCAs adopted a motion to invite Mr Oduol to appear before the committee to shed light on his utterances to the effect of mismanagement and corruption in the executive arm of the county government.
Mr Madialo, said the allegations and the pieces of evidence could not stand.
“Since the allegations raised by the Deputy Governor have not been satisfactorily substantiated, the Committee recommends that the State and Public Officers in the County Government should desist from making allegations which they may not substantiate when called upon, secondly any future complaints by state and public officers in the County Government, on the management of the County Government affairs, to be processed through the dully established channels,” said Mr Madialo.
Mr Oduol had earlier made utterances in different public gatherings claiming that the current administration led by Governor Orengo was performing worse than the previous one which was riddled with corruption, according to a task force audit report.
He further alleged that Mr Orengo had given questionable characters opportunity to ‘steal’ county resources and discriminatory budget allocation that disadvantaged the residents of Alego Usonga constituency.
Constitutionally, the DG should be part of the Executive governance and should be part and parcel of engine running and making decisions in the county government, however, Mr Oduol claims that the county boss sidelined him in making important county decisions.
In the documents submitted to the assembly, Mr Oduol also claimed that there were some county civil servants who were targeted for removal on grounds that they were from Alego Usonga.
On April 12, Mr Oduol appeared before the committee with a view of making an oral submission that would substantiate his earlier allegations, however, Speaker Okode declined on grounds he had not submitted the documents and the pieces of evidence for verification and analysis.
The report by the committee downplayed Mr Oduol’s allegations of financial misappropriations.
“The committee did not admit allegations raised by the Deputy Governor, which were premised on the Draft Report of the Auditor General on County Government of Siaya for the year ended 30th June 2022. The period of the audit being July 2021 – June 2022, was before the current administration assumed office,” read the report tabled by Mr Madialo.
The committee also dismissed claims of alleged transfer of funds into the county imprest account, irregular payment of imprest to officers between August 25, 2022 and April 12, 2023 and fraud of Sh5,443,000 and Sh2,500, 000 in December 2022.
“In line with Regulation 91 of the public Finance Management Regulations, a county Government was allowed to open and operate an imprest account, and it was not irregular for the County Government to allocate or transfer money to the imprest account as was insinuated by the Deputy Governor,” read the report.
