Chaos rocked the Nandi County Assembly on Wednesday when members faced off in a fistfight over the proposed dismissal of 18 senior county officials.
It happened shortly after a committee formed two months ago to investigate county government executives over possible abuse of office and gross violation of the Kenya Constitution tabled its report before the House.
The 15-member team chaired by Kapsabet Town Member of County Assembly (MCA), Benjamin Kering Matata, proposed the dismissal of nine ministers and nine chief officers in key departments, among other key recommendations. The team was formed following public protests in the county.
Scores of MCAs sustained minor injuries following the fist fight, which happened after 20 representatives voted to oppose the report. Eleven MCAs had voted in support of the report, endorsing the proposed sacking of the county executives over possible abuse of office and alleged mismanagement of public funds.
The Nandi MCAs took a vote on the report after the implicated county executives and their respective chief officers were grilled by the ad hoc committee on the status and payments made for various projects.
Interestingly, some ad hoc committee members voted against their report, resulting in the pandemonium after protests among some ward representatives who accused them of dishonesty.
The rowdy MCAs smashed assembly furniture as the chaos threatened to spill over to the public who turned up to witness the tabling of the report.
A contingent of anti-riot police deployed to quell the mounting tension lobbed tear gas at rowdy members of the public who joined the fray. The angry members of the public accused MCAs who shot down the report of betrayal and vowed to vote them out in the next General Election.
Mr Matata said the report was aimed at salvaging the county from further crisis as a result of stalled or non-existent projects despite the allocation of colossal sums of money.
“The shooting down of the report is a blow to the electorate who expect competence from accounting officers and value for money on development projects,” he said.
The ward representatives opposed to the report argued that the dismissal of the nine CECs and their respective chief officers and other key departmental managers amounted to paralyzing county operations.
“The adoption of the report would lead to total paralysis of county operations resulting in further disorders,” argued Walter Teno, Kabiyet ward representative.
Interviewed residents termed the shooting down of the report a major blow to the fight against corruption and mismanagement of public resources by the county executive.
“The MCAs who voted against the report did so against our will. We expect them to play checks and balances against the executive and ensure proper utilisation of public resources, but they seem to have been compromised for selfish gains,” protested Johnstone Koech from Chepkumia ward.
The team had recommended the suspension of three senior managers in the supply chain management, Public Works, and Water Resources and petitioned the Ethic and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) to investigate the expenditure of the Nandi County Public Service Board.
It recommended the recovery of over Sh40 million irregularly paid for personnel emoluments in the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 budget estimates. The funds are to be recovered from 19 county officials who made excess payments.
According to the committee report, Nandi County has pending bills amounting to Sh604,171,185, despite receiving over Sh6.7 billion in the 2023/2024 financial year.
It further disclosed that the County Treasury paid Sh45 million against an allocation of Sh24 million for the supply of fuel under the Department of Transport and Public Works and Sh16.1 million against the allocation of Sh8 million for the supply of murram.
The department further spent Sh391.21 million against the approved budget allocation of Sh347.51 million on development expenditure representing an absorption of 112.6 percent.
The Department of Health and Sanitation, on the other hand, spent Sh3.46 billion on recurrent expenditure against the budget allocation of Sh2.99 billion representing an absorption rate of 115.4 per cent.
The report indicates that the county spent Sh38,709,868 under the emergency fund in the 2022-2024 financial year but records reveal that it utilized Sh50,041,585 in the 2023/2024 under the Nandi County Emergency Fund.
The Department of Health and Sanitation was taken to task over the utilization of Sh2.12 million for the equipping of the maternity wing at Chepkumia Health Center with findings revealing that the rooms have been converted for storage of broken motorbikes and non-pharmaceutical supplies.
“The committee asserts that the claims of 100 percent completion are misleading and misrepresent reality. They believe that the Sh2,128,559 spent has not provided value for money, adversely impacting service delivery to the Chepkumia community and surroundings,” added the report.
While recommending the dismissal of Health and Sanitation CEC member Ms Ruth Koech, the committee argued that she failed to provide leadership in the planning, and implementation of projects including the multimillion Mother and Baby among other dispensaries.
The committee established that the CEC member for Transport and Public Works Eng Drice Rono violated the constitution in the implementation of multi-million projects.
