• Governor Sang says county forced to ground some vehicles due to financial cuts required by Treasury, also blames delayed funds for lack of maintenance
• Some residents accuse the county of overspending on cars deals by some employees to get kickbacks from suppliers.
Nandi county is on the spot after abandoning more than 40 usable vehicles, including ambulances, costing more than Sh200 million at a garage near Kapsabet town.
Questions are being raised about why the vehicles were bought and why they cannot be used, leading to wastage of resources.
Most of the vehicles are in good shape, some require minimal repairs, a number have been vandalised as they have been abandoned for more than a year. Some are in a field and grass has grown around them.
That some vehicles are at a garage is a fact. However, claims of wastage are malicious lies.Governor Stephen Sang
On Monday Governor Stephen Sang admitted the cars were in garages but said the county had been forced to ground some vehicles to cut costs in line with Treasury directives prioritise pending bills.
He said that delayed release of funds by Treasury has led to the need for repairs and maintenance.
Sang denied claims of wasted resources, however, and said some cars had been taken for regular maintenance and had already been removed from a garage.
“That some vehicles are at a garage is a fact. However, claims of wastage are malicious lies,” Sang told the Star.
He also denied claims 15 other cars, including his own official car, were being held at CMC Motors for nonpayment of debts owed the dealership.
"None of my cars is repaired at CMC and none is grounded," Sang said.
The abandoned cars include Prados, Land Rovers, Land Cruisers and Suzukis. Some had cost the county more than Sh5 million each to purchase.
Finance executive Alfred Lagat told the Star that a number of cars and motorcycles at the garage had been abandoned by staff at their homes after they developed problems. He said the county had been forced to tow them back to the garage.
Lagat said Nandi, like many other counties, faced problems of shortage of resources for vehicle maintenance due to the delays in release of money from the Treasury. This led to measures like grounding some vehicles, Lagat said on the phone.
He admitted, however, the county does not have its own yard for parking machinery and vehicles, leading to some of them being abandoned at a private garage.
“We have managed, however, to repossess some grabbed land are in the process of putting up a county yard," Lagat said.
He said government procedures would be followed to dispose of some of the vehicles the county no longer needs.
Lagat said the late release of Treasury funds had also delayed payment of salaries for more than 4,000 workers. They have been on a go-slow over delayed payment of December salaries but Lagat said the money had been released and most of the employees were already receiving their pay.
Some residents have accused the county of buying too many cars the county does not require.
“This is a serious waste of resources and some county officers may buy the cars in deals whereby they get kickbacks," resident Ken Chebitwai said. "They don't care if the vehicles are needed or not."
He said the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission should probe alleged irregular purchase of cars by the county while some hospitals lack adequate drugs and equipment.
(Edited by V. Grahan)