EACC moves to seal corruption loopholes in Siaya County

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission ( EACC) is set to carry out a corruption risk assessment in the operations of the Siaya County government.

The two weeks exercise will be launched tomorrow ( Monday) by EACC commissioner Dr Cecilia Mutuku and governor James Orengo.

The Star has established that the corruption risk assessment is targeting the operations of the county government of Siaya.

"This is part of the remedial actions the EACC is taking to mitigate the challenge of corruption in counties. It is in addition to the ongoing corruption investigations in various county governments," the Commission said when reached for comment.

"In Siaya, the assessment will primarily focus on high-risk functions including financial management, procurement and human resource management," the Commission said.

According to the commission, the exercise is meant to identify and seal weaknesses, loopholes and opportunities for corruption in the targeted functional areas.

Siaya has in the recent past hit the headlines for corruption-related issues.

EACC is currently investigating the alleged misappropriation of Sh400 million.

The money was suspiciously paid to contractors and individuals just days before the August polls and before the assumption of office by the new administration at the county government.

DCI is also probing another case where Sh600 million is said to have been pocketed by staffers at the county government.

Over 50 staff deployed at the county treasury were interrogated by DCI detectives over the matter.

Amongst those who were summoned by the DCI included former finance chief officer Dennis Nyonje.

When a task force appointed by Governor James Orengo released its report on January 20, it emerged that a total of Sh 1 billion was stolen from the county coffers by the staffers at the devolved unit.