Sh4m in four days: How Taita spent funds on World War One commemoration 

The Taita Taveta County Assembly has launched investigations into the alleged corruption and embezzlement of Sh4 million during the World War One commemoration held in November last year.

Speaker Wisdom Mwamburi said the assembly was probing the county's expenditure where four county officials have been implicated in the scandal.

The investigations come after it emerged that some of the financial documents used to account for the spending of the funds were forged and falsified to pocket the money.

Last week, Governor Andrew Mwadime suspended the four senior county officials over alleged financial irregularities.

The governor sent his economic adviser Thomas Jumwa, political adviser Richard Lukindo, chief of protocol Philemon Mwambingu and communications director Mchikirwa Ndelejai on compulsory leave pending investigations.

The speaker said the assembly would continue with its investigations despite the governor's decision to suspend the officials.
On 1 March, Kaloleni County Assembly member Azar Din sought an explanation from the tourism sector committee on the use of funds. 

Mr Din asked the assembly's tourism committee to provide the house with the total expenditure, including reimbursements and supplies for the event, the names of the officials involved in the preparation and execution of the event, and the economic benefits to residents.

"The Assembly has sought to ascertain the status of expenditure on the said event following public outcry over waste and misappropriation of public funds," the Speaker said.

He said they had already received a response from the Ministry of Trade, Tourism, Industrialisation and Cooperatives Development that the Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) would investigate the alleged questionable expenditure of the millions spent.

"The committee is yet to review the voluminous documents submitted, including invoices and receipts of the event, which will require thorough analysis," he said.
The Speaker said the Assembly, which is currently on a short recess, would dwell on the matter as soon as it resumes.

He said the House will use its constitutional mandate to investigate the matter to protect public funds and ensure that all culpable officials are held accountable.

"It is against this backdrop that the County Assembly, while exercising its constitutional oversight mandate, clarifies that it will continue with the process of conducting a thorough investigation into the matter, despite the impetuous action of sending on compulsory leave officers who have been by the public in relation to the alleged misappropriation of public funds during the
funds during the event," he said.

He also urged local citizens to remain vigilant and use all available platforms to raise similar issues with the Assembly for action.

"It is imperative that all state and public officials uphold integrity and accountability and the assembly will stop at nothing to ensure that this is achieved," he added.

Sources at the assembly told Nation.Africa that the assembly has also demanded to know where the funds for the event came from as there was no budgetary provision in the national budget.

The event attracted diplomats from countries that took part in the Great War, including the British High Commissioner to Kenya, Jane Marriott.  

Some of the vendors listed as having done business with the county government during the event have denied supplying anything, confirming the suspicious nature of how the money was spent.

There have been calls for the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to conduct a forensic audit to determine whether officials mismanaged the funds.

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