Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago may face the Senate following claims by Senator Isaac Melly the county cannot account for more than Sh2 billion.
Mandago and Melly have sharply differed after the senator demanded for a lifestyle audit of the governor. Melly accused him of misusing county funds.
Melly has said he will reveal more and table a dossier in the Senate, along with details from a 2013-14 report by Auditor General Edward Ouko on the alleged misuse. However, Mandago’s supporters have told Melly to stop attacking the county boss.
Melly and his supporters say Mandago used more than Sh10 million to host a homecoming parade in Eldoret town last week when he returned from Nairobi, where he recorded a statement with the DCI on the Moi University VC saga.
Melly says it was embarrassing for the governor to use county resources in such a manner yet it faces acute shortage of drugs. “The governor and his top officers must undergo a lifestyle audit. They have been spending public funds on questionable matters not beneficial to residents,” he said.
Melly spoke when he toured Meibeki Subcounty Hospital last week. He said residents must be told where the governor got the millions of shillings to organise a ‘homecoming parade’ from the Eldoret International Airport to town two weeks ago.
Business came to a stand still in the town for more than three hours on September 28 when huge crowds welcomed Mandago. “Mandago can afford to waste resources on unimportant issues. This amounts to plundering public resources,” Melly said.
But Mandago’s supporters met in Eldoret and threatened to protest in Eldoret against the senator, whom they accused of making false claims against the governor.
“Melly is the one who should tell us the whereabouts of more than Sh9 million raised for orphans,” resident Jane Maiyo said. She said the senator was part of a team that organised a fundraiser, but the money is yet to be accounted for.
Melly says the county has little to show for the more than Sh20 billion so far disbursed by the Treasury. He said Mandago has been taking credit for projects funded by the World Bank, European Union and national government. Mandago has denied misusing Sh2 billion. He said Melly has not been in the county and, therefore, does not know whether money has been used.