Siaya's first governor, Cornel Rasanga Amoth, spoke to the Star about his future after two terms and his achievements. He was speaking at his home in Segere village in Alego Usonga constituency.
Will you quit politics or seek election to another office?
Once I am done with my second term, I will listen to the voices of my people first. If they say I rest from politics, I will do so. If they still need me to serve them, they will advise me.
There are other elective posts, senator and MP.
What is your experience in eight years in office?
With the notion by our people that you are sitting on billions, sometimes it complicates things because of the poverty index.
But my administration has done what it can to fight poverty, despite the public having high expectations.
My happiness is to see people lifted from poverty as a result of our interventions.
You had to start from scratch. What's the journey been like?
As an individual, I had vast experience in civil service and even the office I was in as a public service officer, we started from scratch.
Starting from scratch not an issue due to my experience in civil service.
Transitioning from where I was to where I am now was simple because both are governments. The only difference is that this is a county and the other one is national.
How did you feel about being in charge of billions at the county level?
It's God's grace to me and the will of people in Siaya to trust me with their resources for me to serve them.
People have the notion you control billions and have the means to do all they want.
Everything is loaded on you. Even when other people make mistakes, it’s the governor who is blamed as a thief.
We need a law to make government officers take responsibility for their actions within their respective offices.
What was your best moment as governor?
The best moment was the day of my installation as governor. I had a lot of expectations and was ready to move. I wanted to occupy the office like yesterday.
The 2018-19 financial year was the best for me as the governor, I performed best.
What was your worst moment in office ?
When I learnt about the court ruling against my 2013 election victory as a governor, I never had peace of mind.
Then In July 2018, I declined MCAs' demand that money be budgeted forwards. They ganged up and vilified me everywhere. The ward reps projected me as a very bad person with no conscience. I finally convinced them that I was their governor and there was a need for us to work together.
What are some of the challenges you have encountered?
As much as I had vast experience in civil service, remember I was elected with no office, no officers, no staff and I had to start from scratch.
There wasn’t an organised government system, so the culture here was like you’re running a matatu or a jua kali business despite the fact that a government must be organised and follow regulations.
Working with people who have a culture laxity becomes a big problem and it's still the biggest problem I face today.
I have staff who are permanent and pensionable but do not have the culture of work.
The worst challenge we are experiencing not only here in Siaya but also in all counties is delayed disbursement of funds from the National Treasury.
We end up with unexpected pending bills that we could have cleared on time; some projects end stalled as well and each financial year comes up with its own programme.
It further affects budget implementation.
Unending negative criticism despite our efforts to bring change to our people is another blow.
What is your relationship with MCAs?
It's very cordial and there's mutual respect though their work is to oversee the executive.
So sometimes we end up brushing shoulders over the budget or some projects, but that’s their work.
What is the county wage bill?
We are currently spending Sh 2.9 billion or 38 per cent of our budget on staff remuneration.
Audit queries are normal to both private and public offices and they are responded to whenever the need arises.
Do you have pending bills? How much and how are you handling them?
Our books were recently audited and we are waiting for a report from the Auditor General.
Once we have the report,we shall be able to respond to that.
Health is one of the fully devolved functions. What is the state of health services?
As a county we allocated 30 per cent of our budget to the health sector, which has enabled us to run that sector smoothly.
We have improved and advanced on health services across the county.
Ninety per cent of our patients now are being treated here at the county referral hospital for major cases and minor ones are dealt at the subcounty level.
As we are speaking, we are reducing travel distance to health facilities to fewer than 5km.
We have also established an oxygen plant that is supporting the region. We are engaging Community Health Volunteers who are providing basic healthcare in the villages
What is the food security situation?
Siaya county is moving closer to being a food-secure county, for now we have purchased 22 tractors to help our farmers to plough or till their farms for planting.
As the farmer is a resident of Siaya, he/she hires the tractor at fair price,. Outsiders hire at Sh3,500 per acre but for our own people we have lowered the price to Sh2,500 per acre.
We are also giving out subsidised fertilizers and other farm inputs to increase food production.
We have increased the acreage of mechanised agriculture and people of Siaya no longer depend on vegetables from outside.
What is your administration doing to solve the unemployment problem?
We have improved infrastructure to support small-scale businesses countywide.
We are in the process of making available The Cooperative Fund to support businesses with loans.
What's the state of education?
We have built more than 300 Early Childhood Development Centres across the county.
We have increased enrolment in early childhood education from 15,000 in 2013 to more than 90,000 today.
We have 18 active and registered vocational training centres and over Sh70 million have been disbursed to more than 30,000 learners since 2013 when I became governor.
What's the status of the stadium?
The stadium is 80 per cent complete.
With it our young people will explore their talents and also generate economic benefits for the county through sports tourism.
What is the culture of your people?
People of Siaya county are very honest with their criticism, they don’t know how to hide.
What will you be remembered for?
A functional procurement system and a transparent system of government
Your message to your successor?
Continue from the foundation I have built and make Siaya people proud.
(Edited by V. Graham)
