Further probe ordered into Turkana County Government claims

By MOSES NJAGIH

KENYA: The Senate gave a major reprieve to the Turkana County Government after it failed to adopt a committee report calling for investigation into the illegal alteration of the county budget, which had been passed by the Assembly.

Investigations by the Controller of Budget Mrs Agnes Odhiambo had revealed that the budget passed by the Turkana County Assembly had been irregularly altered, with the bulk of the funds being moved to the Office of the Governor.

The probe noted that while the Assembly passed a budget of Sh8,278,000,000, the budget submitted to the Office of the Controller was understated by over Sh30 million after alterations were made.

The Clerk submitted to the Controller a budget of Sh8,245,834,125, which raised questions prompting the probe.

The investigations revealed that after the passing of the budget, alterations were made with Sh529 million of the figures moved, directed to the Governor’s office and those lying under his command.

The investigators called for investigations into this anomaly, calling for a probe to ascertain who was behind the illegality.

But the Senate opposed the blanket adoption of the report tabled by the Chairman of the Finance Committee Billow Kerrow and instead referred the matter back to the committee for further investigations.

Senators accused the committee of failing to go beyond the report prepared by the controller of budget and instead failing to investigate the culprits behind the irregularity.

West Pokot Senator John Lonyangapuo sought an amendment to the motion, instead urging the committee to go further and give names of specific individuals who altered the figures and make recommendations of what action they should face.

Senators GG Kariuki, James Orengo and Martha Wangari were initially opposed to adoption of the report.