•Nyong’o now becomes the second governor to skip the committee session that kicked off on Monday.
•Murang’a governor Mwangi Wa Iria was a no-show on Monday and was ordered to appear on Wednesday.
Image: FAITH MATETE
A Senate committee has summoned Kisumu Governor Anyang' Nyong’o over the questionable spending of Sh238.57 million disbursed to the county to aid in the fight against Covid-19.
Chairman Michael Mbito (Trans-Nzoia) issued the summons after the county chief skipped an invitation by the panel to explain how his administration utilised the funds.
“I hereby summon the governor to appear before this committee within seven days,” Mbito ordered as he criticised Nyong’o for taking the matter ‘casually.’
Nyong’o, a former senator who also chairs Council of Governors health committee, had been invited to explain audit queries raised by Auditor General Nancy Gathungu in her special audit report on the utilisation of Covid-19 funds.
The committee turned away Kisumu Health executive Boaz Otieno and his Finance counterpart George Okongo who had appeared to represent the governor and attempted to justify his no-show.
They presented a letter of apology signed by the governor’s chief of staff John Oywa stating that he rushed to a sub-county to attend to an emergency situation.
“The governor had planned to attend the meeting but had to rush to the far flung Nyakach sub-county where flash floods have displaced thousands of villagers,” reads.
The chairman and the committee would hear none of it. They trashed the letter and took the issue with the county boss for taking the committee for a ride and not appreciating the gravity of the matter at hand.
“The governor has taken this committee very casually. What we are dealing with is a pandemic, a serious pandemic. We invited him so that we can put our heads together and also know how the money we are sending to counties are being spent,” Mbito reckoned.
Nyong’o now becomes the second governor to skip the committee session that kicked off on Monday.
Murang’a Governor Mwangi Wa Iria was a no-show on Monday and was ordered to appear on Wednesday.
The committee has lined up a series of meetings with all the 47 governors as they investigate how the counties spent the Covid-19 cash. This follows an explosive audit report that exposed massive irregularities in the use of the funds.
On Tuesday, Kisumu senator Fred Outa faulted the governor’s absence, accusing him of showing a bad example to other governors whom he leads at the council.
“Invitation was for the county governor because he is the chief executive officer. I am taking great exception because the chairman of the CoG Health committee is governor Anyang Nyong’o,” Narok senator Ledama Ole Kina said.
According to the special audit report, Gathungu has fingered Nyong’o’s administration of spending Sh209.82 million without approved Covid-19 training plans.
This contravened section 107(2) of the County Government Act, 2012 that requires that county government plans shall be the basis for all budgeting in a county.
In addition, the auditor flagged comingling of conditional grants from the national government with other sources of funds in the Covid-19 response in the county amounting to Sh159.82 million thus posing accounting risks.
The county failed to utilise Sh930, 000 for frontline healthcare workers allowance and also delayed to transfer some Sh7.7 million donated by Danida from the Kisumu county accounts to the health facilities exposing public funds to value for money risks.