Bomet on the spot over Sh373m road equipment mismanagement

After spending Sh373 million to purchase heavy equipment for road construction, Bomet County has little to show for it in the last year, a revelation that has kicked up a storm.

Questions have been asked about whether the residents were getting value for the millions of taxpayers’ money used to purchase the 12 road construction equipment and trucks mid-last year.

It has also emerged that a whistle-blower had written to the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Director of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Controller of Budget, Auditor General, Senate, Members of the National Assembly, County Assembly, and other relevant government institutions to probe the purchase of the equipment.

In a letter dated May 16, 2024, which is a follow-up to another one written on June 2, 2023, the whistleblower had asked the institutions to establish whether public participation was done before the colossal sums of taxpayers’ money were committed.

“The machines were bought yet it was not included in the County Integrated Development Plans 2018-2022 and was not in the Annual Development Plan 2022-2023, which is a legal requirement," the whistleblower claimed.

He also wants the institutions in the spirit of transparency and accountability “to establish how much money was allocated, the actual cost of the equipment and who won the tender”

“I am inviting your offices to establish whether the purchase was in the work plan, budget approvals… whether public participation was done, were budgeted processes followed and were legal requirement adhered to”

Gross misconduct

Despite Sh40 million being budgeted for fuelling the equipment in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, upgrades of some roads have only been undertaken in eight civic wards out of the 25 in five sub-counties – Bomet East, Bomet Central, Chepalungu, Sotik and Ndanai.

The issue is threatening to cost the job of County Executive Committee (CEC) member for Roads, Public Works, and Transport Erick, Kipkoech Ngetich, following an impeachment motion tabled at the assembly.

Mr Ngetich is among two other CECs – Andrew Sigei (Finance and Economic Planning) and Dr Joseph Kirui (Administration, Public Service, and Special Programmes— who have been cited for alleged gross misconduct, non-disclosure of facts, flouting the Public Finance Management (PFM) Act in an impeachment motion at the assembly.

The motion is scheduled for debate next week.

Mr Peter Mutai, the Sigor ward Member of the County Assembly, while tabling the motion last week, said Mr Ngetich had failed to implement projects duly approved in the county budget, contrary to financial management principles under the Public Finance Management Act, 2012.

“Despite the county spending over Sh300 million on the purchase of heavy machinery (for road construction), only eight of the 25 wards have utilised the resources. This is despite arrangements and an adequate fuel provision of Sh40 million. This is unacceptable,” Mr Mutai stated.

Most of the heavy machinery, he said, has been grounded for significant periods, demonstrating a lack of proper management and utilisation in violation of the principles of public service under Section 10(b) of the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012.

Cheaper cost

Issues have also been raised by the MCAs over the ownership of the equipment with the CEC having failed to provide the logbooks to demonstrate it was paid for in full and is owned by the county government.

Governor Hillary Barchok unveiled the equipment in September 2023 during a function attended by Kericho Governor Erick Mutai, Emurrua Dikir Member of Parliament Johana Ngeno, and his Chepalungu counterpart Victor Koech and Bomet MCAs at Bomet Green Stadium.

“We will use the machines to open up rural roads at a cheaper cost as opposed to issuing contracts and ensure that the people have good infrastructural facilities to spur economic growth,” Professor Barchok said at the time.

Mr Ngetich allegedly neglected the maintenance of county vehicles leading to deterioration and inefficiency in service delivery contrary to the principles of public service under the Leadership and Integrity Act, 2012, Section 11(a) which mandates effective management of public resources.

“The CEC (Mr Ngetich) has failed to explain how he utilised Sh195 million for county major roads and Sh78 million for cross-cutting roads (joining two civic wards) in the fiscal year 2023-2024. In light of the fact there are no projects worth the amount, it can only be concluded that the amount has been misappropriated…” Mr Mutai said.

“This reflects incompetent leadership, and a failure to effectively manage and distribute county resources, as the machinery was intended to serve all wards equally and benefit the entire county”

Mr Ngetich was accused of failing “to provide detailed expenditure reports when requested on three separate occasions by the County Assembly Committee on Roads, Transport and Public Works. This lack of transparency and accountability violates the principle of good governance and oversight…”

“He has failed to address the growing number of unexplained pending bills, which continue to increase under his tenure, reflecting gross incompetence and mismanagement of county resources”

Mr Ngetich said in a recent interview that the heavy rainfall and floods experienced in the early part of the year in the country had affected the implementation matrix for the road projects in the counties.

But since the rains subsided, the road upgrade is yet to resume in the civic wards with issues raised by the public on the whereabouts of the machines.

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