Ojaamong’ tells off MCAs as ward fund war rocks Western

Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong at a past function. [File, Standard]

Governors in Western counties are fighting threats by MCAs to impeach them following disagreements over funds and county projects.

Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong has dared MCAs to make good their threats to impeach him.

The MCAs want to ‘punish’ the governor over claims of denying them ward development and bursary funds.

Recently, MCAs of the Vihiga County Assembly plotted to eject Governor Wilberforce Otichillo over failure to initate projects in wards.

Dr Ottichilo was forced to enter into a truce with the MCAs to save his job.

In Bungoma, MCAs took to the streets to protest against Governor Wycliffe Wangamati’s alleged high-handedness and incompetence.

The MCAs put Mr Wangamati to task to explain why he had failed to implement projects more than one year after winning the seat.

The Bungoma Governor managed to dissuade the MCAs from impeaching him.

However, a section of the ward representatives have accused Wangamati of unleashing terror gangs on them, claims the county boss has denied.

And Busia MCAs have threatened to conduct a special sitting on Tuesday to plot an impeachment motion against Ojaamong’ for allegedly abolishing Ward Development Fund (WDF) which Controller of Budget Agnes Odhiambo had in January declared illegal.

The MCAs have also accused Mr Ojaamong’ of freezing new projects in wards until the ongoing ones are completed and the county’s pending bill of Sh1.3 billion settled.

But the Busia governor has urged the MCAs to act within the law.

“Even the President said new projects should not be launched until new ones are completed, because counties had huge pending bills amounting to around Sh100 billion,” said Ojaamong’.

Yesterday, the governor dared the MCAs to make good their threat to impeach him. “It is going to backfire on them and I don’t know what they are going to tell the electorate,” he said.

The county boss called for a five-day retreat with MCAs at Tom Mboya Labour College in Kisumu to discuss the County Integrated Development Plan (CIDP), universal health care, revenue collection and the supplementary Budget. “Impeachment is a process which has to go to the Senate and sometimes the courts, so let the MCAs not think it something easy,” said Ojaamong’.

The MCAs walked out on Ojaamong’ lamenting that he had scrapped the WDF and vowed to teach him a lesson.

“We agree pending bills should be settled but how genuine are these bills?” posed Bukhayo North MCA Gardy Jakaa.

Nambale Township MCA Mwajuma Toloi said it was unfair for the governor to freeze new projects. “It is wrong for the executive to ban launch of new projects when our electorate are demanding a lot from us in terms of development,” said Ms Toloi.

A nominated MCA said the elected members were at a fix after selling some of the projects that were to be implemented in their respective wards to contractors.