• Muhuru Bay MCA Hevron Maira and his Isebania counterpart Elias Nyahure said they will summon Ogongo to answer queries raised over misappropriated Sh185million expenditure in several vote heads in the Agriculture docket.
• The two said they were irked by a statement by Ogongo who dared MCAs to impeach him over claims raised by Maira over the vote heads.
Two MCAs have vowed to push through the impeachment motion against Agriculture executive Valentine Ogongo over expenditures in his department.
Muhuru Bay MCA Hevron Maira and his Isebania counterpart Elias Nyahure said they will summon Ogongo to answer queries raised over misappropriated Sh185million expenditure in several vote heads in the Agriculture docket.
They spoke on Saturday in Rabuor area, Suna East, during the burial of Mama Olala, the mother of Migori ODM secretary general Joseph Olala.
The two said they were irked by a statement by Ogongo who dared MCAs to impeach him over claims raised by Maira over the vote heads.
“We never took kindly calls by the executive when issues on funds were raised in his department. We will play our oversight role and it is not limited to impeaching him,” Nyahure said.
He said residents have raised queries over expenditures in the department and they need answers.
Maira said he has raised the queries in the committee and officers from the department will soon have to defend and shed light on the "questionable expenditures".
He challenged Governor Okoth Obado to also follow up on expenditure to “to help punish all officers involved in any missing funds.”
“I have no vendetta against Ogongo or members of his department, but farmers are asking about fertilizer, extension officers and other inputs that they were to get,” Maira said.
But in earlier reactions, Ogongo termed the legislator as a “mad man” who is “wasting time with allegations without coming to his office or summon him through the assembly.”
“Maira has the power to summon me to assembly and initiate impeachment motion, if he has any claims. Most of them are unsubstantiated. A frog’s cry will never present a cow from drinking,” Ogongo said.
He said Sh9.5million allocated to Miyare ATC was revised to Sh45 million and work is going on while the procurement process to get dairy and Sahiwal cattle stopped mid-way as no one won the tender.
He said his department had all list of farmers who benefitted from several vote heads raised by the MCA and not money was lost.
In queries raised, Maira said assembly allocated Sh4.2million to buy maize seeds for 40 wards, and only 25 bags reached each ward against the targeted 70 bags with similar claims raised against Sh44million allocated for fertilizers.
He also raised issues on Sh5.6million set for fall armyworm eradication, Sh20million for tissue culture banana distribution and Sh100million set aside for dairy cows and sahiwal bulls distribution.
Sh9.5million set aside to build a hostel at Miyare Agriculture Training College are allegedly said to have been misappropriated, among other vote heads.