By Shem Kosse.
 
  The Clerk to Bondo County council Richard Kodindo is allegedly embroiled in a massive financial rip off involving a controversial contract close to ksh400, 000.
 
  Early last year the council gave out the contract to a contractor to construct a drainage system at Aram market without following the procurement procedures.
 
  The tender was not advertised as required , bidders were never invited and it was awarded through single sourcing.
 
  Councilors and some chief officers who sought anonymity now want the council not to pay money to the contractor, a move which has been rejected by the clerk.
 
  The contractor had received part of the payment to the tune of about ksh.100,000 but members of the town planning committee which was to oversee the completion of the project have since disapproved the work already done, terming it shoddy.
 
  While the committee want the contractor to be forced to go back and re-do the work, the clerk who is said to be related to the owner of the firm is however pushing for his total payment.
 
  He has also come under scathing attack by the local contractors who claim he has denied them an opportunity to get contracts at the expense of his cronies.
 
  When reached for comment the embattled clerk vehemently denied the allegations saying he was simply following the law.
 
  He asserted that the job was advertised in one of the local dailies and bidders competed fairly for it before it was eventually awarded.
 
  He said the contractor has been paid part of his dues and was still on sight to complete the project.
 
  The chief officer said he was operating within a political environment that did not favour some of his decisions but vowed to fight on.
 
  Its worth noting that the beleaguered officer has always had un-ceremonial exits in the previous stations he has served.
 
  Sources at the council confided to these journalists that he was not in good working relations even with the leading politicians from the area and he is said to have vowed never to receive instructions from them.
 
  Unconfirmed reports is swirling over to the effect that the phantom firm in question belongs to the besieged town clerk. And that it is among the chain of his secretly registered firms, through proxies. 

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Date:  Mon, 19 May 2008 05:15:46 -0700 (PDT)
From:  Shem Kosse
Subject:  BONDO CLERK IN A MAJOR SCAM