Siaya County Staff Transferred To Bungoma Continued To Earn Salary For 7 Years, Pocketing KSh 4.5m

• The EACC flagged several irregularities that led to the embezzlement of funds in the Siaya county government
• For instance, a former employee was discovered to have been left in the staff directory and earned a salary for seven years despite being transferred to Bungoma
• The anti-graft body now recommends a raft of measures to Governor James Orengo to seal the loopholes through which monies have been lost

Siaya county - The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) focused its radar on the Governor James Orengo-led county, where it established some former employees had been pocketing salaries long after they left.

The anti-graft agency responded to the reports of rampant corruption, including alleged embezzlement of public funds by senior officials in the county.

The EACC undertook a Corruption Risk Assessment targeting the county executive and County Assembly from February this year.

According to the findings, millions of taxpayer money were dissipated due to system loopholes the county was not keen to seal.

KSh 4.5m irregular payment as salary

An instance was drawn from a former employee who remained in the county's directory and earned a salary despite having been transferred to Bungoma county.

The officer left Siaya in 2012 but continued to earn until 2019; he earned a total of KSh 4.5 million throughout the seven years.

Another one was found to have received KSh 94,000 as his salary in January 2020, despite having retired in December 2019.

Monies were also lost on stalled projects.

All these happened during the tenure of pioneer governor Cornel Rasanga who was at the helm for ten years between 2013 and 2022.

The EACC hinted at following up on the prosecution of those accused and undertaking recovery of the assets.

The commission handed over two reports from the graft assessment to Orengo and County Assembly Speaker George Okonde.

Proposed in the reports were a raft of recommendations to curb graft on levels.

The agency said it would monitor the implementation of the recommendations, which would boost systems integrity and alleviate theft of public funds.

"Grand corruption" in Siaya county

Matters of alleged corruption and theft of public funds have been informing conversations in the county in the recent past.

Orengo and his deputy William Oduol were not reading from the same book, with the latter accusing his boss of authorising irregular withdrawals from the county coffers.

"My differences with Governor Orengo are not personal; our differences are more ideological. I am against corruption and theft of public property. We began well, and worked for like three months," he said in a past presser.

Oduol constantly picked holes in the county's finance system, which he said was too permeable, and funds were being withdrawn with almost zero accountability.

His reservations about how matters of finances were being handled culminated in his impeachment.

In June, 42 ward representatives unanimously passed the impeachment motion against him.

The MCAs adopted the findings of a special committee that investigated the grounds for Oduol's removal from office.

The deputy governor was accused of gross violations of the constitution, abuse of office, and misappropriation of public resources, among other allegations.

He was characterised as a dishonest leader driven solely by self-interest.

The MCAs also observed that the irreparable differences between Oduol and Orengo were hindering effective governance, prompting the need for Oduol's removal to allow the county chief to deliver to the people.

Oduol's matter was tabled before the Senate, which threw out the petition by the MCAs to have him impeached.

Twenty-seven senators allied to the government voted to dismiss the impeachment; 16 lawmakers from Azimio wanted the deputy governor out.