Graft claims jitters as Siaya Deputy Governor Oduol's hearing aborts
Siaya Governor James Orengo (left) and his deputy William Oduol (right) address journalists in Siaya town during their campaigns in June last year.
When Siaya Deputy Governor William Oduol cried foul over alleged mistreatment by his boss Governor James Orengo a few weeks ago, it pointed to simmering trouble in paradise.
And the turn of events on Wednesday further widened the rift between the two.
A highly anticipated appearance by Mr Oduol before the County Assembly was postponed at the last minute.
Nation understands this was due to fears that a public hearing could have exposed corrupt deals involving senior leaders and officials from the county.
It took numerous phone calls and consultations at high levels, including leaders from outside the county government, to have Mr Oduol not table an explosive exposé that, according to sources, was going to “burn the county down” owing to the “big names” implicated.
Various people who spoke to Nation intimated that top officials at the county assembly and the executive had to think fast to stop Mr Oduol from presenting the files he had prepared for his submissions.
"Buying time"
According to sources, this was to buy time with the hopes of reviewing the file before it is made public or shared with the media.
“Today's meeting was just aborted deliberately and a strategy hatched to forestall the Deputy Governor’s submission. The DG is in possession of very damning files implicating big names,” said a source from within the county government who sought anonymity.
On Wednesday, Mr Oduol, who was flanked by his lawyer, faced MCAs with three huge files ready to defend utterances he made last month alleging that the county executive was engaging in massive corruption. He was scheduled to appear before the assembly at 10 am and arrived at 9.25 am to hold a closed-door meeting with Assembly Speaker George Okode.
The meeting took two and a half hours. At 1 pm, the Speaker called for an informal meeting and announced that Mr Oduol was not be granted an opportunity to make his submissions as he had not filed the responses in writing as the rules require.
“An officer ought to submit any material he intends to discuss [beforehand] so that the members can scrutinise them,” said Mr Okode. Lauding the Speaker’s decision, East Asembo MCA Gordon Onguru said procedures must be adhered to.
“Let the deputy governor understand that, even in a court of law, if you have incriminating evidence and you present it before the judge, the person mentioned must be given enough time to respond before the hearing starts,” said Mr Onguru.
Yimbo East MCA Francis Otiato tabled a motion last month that sought to summon Mr Oduol to appear before the assembly and shed light on allegations of corrupt practices in the executive.
Mr Oduol claimed that there were people in Mr Orengo’s administration who were hell-bent on evicting some officers from Alego Usonga. He also accused the administration of shifting development projects from Alego Usonga to other areas.
