Kisumu county Finance executive George Ongaya has accused asome MCAs of lying that Sh280 million has been misappropriated from the ward development fund.
Onyanga said the claims are false, malicious and made in bad faith to tarnish the name of the county government and the ward development fund committee members.
“This propaganda is championed by a section of leaders in the county assembly serving their master’s personal interest and focussed on character assassination,” he said.
In a statement yesterday, the officer said no amount of blackmail, intimidation and threats will divert the county ward development fund committee from fulfilling its mandate.
Ongaya said the county government is focused on delivering services and has no time to engage in a propaganda war.
In the 2015-16 financial year, the budget allocated Sh280 million to the fund.
Onyanga said the allocation was meant for the development budget. He said all the operation, maintenance and personnel costs for the fund administration were created by the department of planning and development. He said at the end of the year, the Controller of Budget had only released Sh105 million to the county government.
He said Sh175 million, which is part of the Sh280 million, has not been released to the county.
“This was confirmed by the CoB in her letter copied to the county assembly clerk on August 11,” Onyanga said.
He said Sh105 million is safe at their Equity Bank account, awaiting completion of procurement process for the development projects approved by the county ward development committee and procurement department.