- The governor said the issues of unsurrendered imprests at the county had been taken up by the office of the Auditor General.
- Ottichilo he would not compromise on accountability issues because the county has been adversely affected by corruption claims which he is ready to tackle head on.
Image: HILTON OTENYO
Vihiga Governor Wilber Ottichilo has told off a former staffer who is threatening to sue the county over recovery of un-surrendered imprests.
Ottichilo said that a 14-day notice given by former county secretary Francis Ominde to stop deductions of the unaccounted for money from the officers who signed the imprests had no ground as he was within the law and will not be intimidated by anyone.
"Ominde is out to fight my administration. He was in government both national and county and knows that the rule is clear that one must account for imprests they sign within 48 hours. He is not telling us anything new," he said.
"It must be known that anyone who received public funds must account for the same. It does not matter whether they signed for the money themselves or through proxies," he added.
The governor said the issues of unsurrendered imprests at the county had been taken up by the office of the Auditor General.
Ominde, in a letter to the governor dated March 12 said he would go to court to seek orders to stop deductions of unsurrendered imprests from junior staff used by senior county officials to draw the funds.
Ominde said several secretaries, drivers, clerical officers and even casuals including those in the governor's office, are suffering from these fraudulent activities by their seniors.
"Please purpose to find out who requested for the said imprests, who authorised payment to the junior officer's accounts and who actually used the monies," he said.
"I write to remind you that on June 26, 2018, I informed the chief officer for Finance and Economic planning of irregular payments in the county where senior officers, including chief officers, were withdrawing huge amounts of money from the county Treasury using names and accounts of junior officers, mostly secretaries, clerks and drivers. This memo was copied to you for information," he said in his letter.
Ominde said it was sad that despite all information provided to the governor, junior officers in his government are now being forced to refund huge sums of money averaging Sh3 million for the fraudulent activities in the county.
He said part of the grounds given by the governor for relieving him of his duties as county secretary was that he failed to account for Sh7,392,100 which was deposited in a Mr Abong'os account but meant for MCAs.
But Ottichilo said he would not compromise on accountability issues because the county has been adversely affected by corruption claims which he is ready to tackle head on.
Vihiga county has been on the spot for audit queries by the auditor general over usage of funds.
A number of issues including illegal payments for work not done by the previous regime had stalled payment of contractors leading to piled up pending bills.
-SKanyara