- The Assembly adopted the report which found out that all the allegations made were unsubstantiated.
- The Assembly also received a notice of impeachment of Oduol on grounds of abuse of office and misconduct.
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Members of the Siaya County Assembly on Monday dismissed a report on allegations of corruption and mismanagement in Governor James Orengo-led Siaya County Executive.
The allegations were presented by Deputy Governor William Oduol.
The Assembly adopted the report which found out that all the allegations made were unsubstantiated.
"Having determined that all the allegations by the deputy governor have not been satisfactorily substantiated, this house directs that in future all officers within this government must desist from making allegations - public or private, formal or informal - allegations that cannot be substantiated," Usonga MCA Sylvester Madialo said.
The Assembly also received a notice of impeachment of Oduol on grounds of abuse of office and misconduct.
East Asembo MCA Gordon Onguuru moved the impeachment motion as soon as the report dismissing the allegations was adopted.
The impeachment motion will be tabled on May 29, 2023.
East Yimbo MCA Francis Otiato cited the issue of the procurement of subsidised fertiliser that Oduol claimed was also riddled with corruption.
"The response from this report tells us that at some point the deputy governor allegedly threatened a procurement officer and sought to infringe on the secrecy of the tendering process," Otiato said.
"Can it be that the cause of this fight is procurement in the county?"
East Gem MCA Seth Baraka faulted Oduol for having claimed that the subcounty where he (Oduol) comes from was being disfavoured in the distribution of resources.
Oduol had alleged that projects that were in the pipeline in his subcounty were being diverted elsewhere.
" We have bigger problems in Siaya than listening to one individual. We want to tell the deputy governor that we must not think his way, so, it is wrong for him to believe that if we think otherwise then we have been bought," Baraka said.
Oduol had also cited alleged plunder of public coffers by the county treasury officials.
In his report, Oduol claimed that a finance officer operated an imprest account on behalf of the county government.
"The committee observed that an accounting officer is allowed to make transfers, with consultations with the finance executive. There is no substantiation with regards to the irregular transfer of funds," Madialo said as he took the House through the report.
As regards the alleged loss of public funds through payroll, Madialo noted that there was no evidence of a loss of Sh5.4 million and another Sh2.5 million.
On the allegation of withdrawal of personnel attached to Oduol, the report found out that one of the personnel was an enforcement officer and not Oduol's bodyguard as earlier alleged.
"I am wondering whether enforcement officers that are in charge of revenue collection are trained security personnel to offer security. The person said to have been withdrawn as a bodyguard is an enforcement officer," Madialo explained.
Another gentleman who was also reported to have been dismissed on grounds of coming from Oduol's subcounty was dismissed through a disciplinary process, Madialo said.
The report explained that there was evidence of Oduol chairing someone sub-committees of the Cabinet and therefore the allegation that he was being blocked from attending meetings was false.