BY DICKENS WASONGA IN KISUMU CITY.
KISUMU MAYOR IN MAJOR SCANDAL.
Kisumu mayor Sam Onyango Okello is embroiled in a massive financial scam over the alleged repair of the prime minister’s posh Milimani home.
Investigations by this journalist reveals that the mayor unprocedurally obtained a staggering ksh.700,000 from the council’s coffers last week to be used in the refurbishment of the said house. The controversy -ridden contract was awarded to his relative from Gem
As per the stipulated procurement procedures, any contract exceeding ksh.500,000 must be advertised for bidders to competitively apply before it is awarded.
Sources at the financially crippled council confided to this scribe that the mayor’s hasty move angered even his chief officers who termed it as an open theft and in-subordination.
” How do we account for this expenditure incase of any financial audit”,wondered one of the chief officers.
The mayor who was in the news recently for ordering the eviction of some tenants from the council houses is currently being blamed as being too expensive for the cash-strapped civic body.
Its worth noting and interesting that the city father, in a bid to generate revenue for the council ,has found a few personalities untouchable even though they also owe the authority large sums of money in rent arrears.
Investigations further reveals that senior and influential individuals in business and political circles forms the list of who occupies the council’s houses without paying rent yet they enjoy immunity of eviction.
Among them includes Gem MP Jakoyo Midiwo, CEO Spectra International Israel Agina and professor Larry Gumbe, banking expert a Mr. Mukuria who is also the chairman of the exclusive Nyanza club where the mayor is currently residing at the expense of the council.
It is shocking also that former council employees who landed plum jobs in the neighboring countries a couple of years ago still occupy council’s up-market houses undeterred thus denying the civic body its much needed revenue.
More of a mockery is fresh revelations that the ageless, long serving enforcement officer Erick Hongo who also doubles as the mayor’s point man has got a chain of the council houses located in different estates within the town to his name yet most senior staff are houseless
He is living in a council house at the posh Milimani which he is entitled to as a senior enforcement officer, while collects rent from the rest of the houses he owns illegally at Arina, Anderson and Kibuye estates.
Contacted for comment the clerk to the council Mr. Rashid Mwakiwiwi said the issue was an ‘internal matter’ and would be addressed soon.
The mayor who has been a perennial losser in Muhoroni constituency was imposed by the ODM top hierachy is also accused of purging the entire staff initially attached to the mayor’s office.
The high tempered and ‘a know it all’ civic boss recently fired a long serving manorial secretary Grace Kun’ga over allegations that she was being used by the immediate former mayor cllr.Prisca Auma to spy on him.
He is said to have vowed never to drink tea prepared by Grace , a move which left her frustrated and did not auger well even among other council workers.
Instead, he has employed a tea girl and a private driver who are bagging whooping weekly allowances at a time when hiring of new staff has been frozen.
ENDS.
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Date: Mon, 5 May 2008 02:20:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: Dickens Wasonga
Subject: KISUMU MAYOR IN SCAM OVER PM HOUSE REPAIR.
It is high time Kisumu residents give the new mayor time to settle down for work. We are bit rushy,Mr. Okello has just beginning his duty. Everybody knows that the former mayor
had done a lot of mismanagement in the council.The houses
the writer is talking about is not a new issue. These people
have been occuplying these houses for a long. The former
mayor new a bout it and she did nothing. This issue is petty
and we do not expect Okello to square the matter within
this short time.
From what i see in your story,you are somebody who is trying
to fight Raila’s influence in Kisumu. Why do you single only
supporters of PM as the only occupiers of the said houses.
If the mayor approved the renovation for PM, i feel there was
nothing wrong,taking into account the urgency of the matter,
the mayor had all right .We should stop being petty over issues.
We all know that the former mayor was used by Kibaki administration to undermine the development of kisumu.
She was used to undermined Shaekil who was doing good
work. At the moment,kisumu city is broke because of the
former mayor mismanagement.Therefore,we ask you to be
truth in your writing.We want Mr. Okello to prove his worth.
Let him reorganise the management of kisumu.
Your story is trying to expose Okello’s weakness as being
emotional and clanist.By a warding a work to somebody competent from Gem is not wrong at all.You should avoid
being used by ever corrupt known councillors. We should
give mr.Okello time to settle down and bring desired changes
in Kisumu. There is way that Okello can solve all the accumulated problems of many years within one month.It is
only God who can do that.
Please Mr. Wasonga,we should give the mayor time to sort out
all the problems you are talking about. If you have started criticisng the mayor at this early time,he will get discouraged
which will affect his productivity.Okello has proved himself
very competent and a great manager.He will straighten the corrupt administration of kisumu city.
I think the new Mayor has just started on the wrong footing!! The problem we have with appointments influenced by political patronage is that one will always be working while looking behind his shoulders and at the whims of the master, always expecting a payback. The selection of Mr. Okello as the Mayor of Kisumu city was a grave mistake!! The people were denied their rights in choosing a representative.
We do not need Raila’s influence to run the affairs of Kisumu City. The city needs to be managed professionally. There is nothing like awarding a cotract to a relative being a petty affair as implied by your reader Dominic. That amounts to conflict of interest and corruption by the other name, period.
Glorifying Mr. Okello at this point before we even se his development blueprint for Kisumu city is self-defeating. I will not be surpried if more scandals are unearthed. Did you forget that the era of man-eat-man gave rise to man-eat-all??
May the Almighty God give us strength to continue sustaining the corrupt. Good luck the Mayor.
Now, what is needed to be clarified here,is this PM personal house, or council house?. But if it’s PM personal house then I’m finding it very strange for the council money to be used to repair this house while , the same council can’t even pay employees salaries. Mr. Okello you’re the driver but i don’t believe even if you were a worded the job by PM , you should do him a favour, that job is your right as a citizen of Kenya, at the end of the day if anything go wrong you’ll be the person to be blamed. Therefore it’s high time you take the bull by the horn and show the Kenyans that you’re incharge and deserve the position. Corruption, should be a thing of the past if we really want to move on. Kisumu was last hit hard by last general election and the Kisumu people wants a leader who can work extra hard to develop it by bringing bussiness back to normal.