By: Dennis Wendo
Worth Noting:
- The unionist who contested for Lugari parliamentary seat on a DAP (K) party ticket but lost to Nabii Nabwera of ODM after garnering 10, 000 votes against the latter’s 22, 000 votes said he was making the demands as a concerned county resident.
- “As a concerned leader from this county, I strongly support the need for the current Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa to first carry out a comprehensive audit on the previous administration and share reports with relevant authorities including various leaders within the county if indeed he is serious, focused and aims at starting on the right footing,” Andabwa said.
Kenya National Private Security Workers Union secretary general Isaac Andabwa (OGW) has called for an audit on all development projects implemented by former Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya during his ten years reign.
Andabwa claimed some of the major projects in the county were funded by the World Bank, yet Oparanya’s administration disguised their funding to financial allocations from the National Treasury.
“There is very little to show in terms of development under Governor Oparanya’s tenure. And if visible, very skewed and selective across the county,” Andabwa said.
The unionist who contested for Lugari parliamentary seat on a DAP (K) party ticket but lost to Nabii Nabwera of ODM after garnering 10, 000 votes against the latter’s 22, 000 votes said he was making the demands as a concerned county resident.
“As a concerned leader from this county, I strongly support the need for the current Kakamega Governor Fernandes Barasa to first carry out a comprehensive audit on the previous administration and share reports with relevant authorities including various leaders within the county if indeed he is serious, focused and aims at starting on the right footing,” Andabwa said.
Andabwa made the remarks during Walter Ambuli’s burial ceremony where he addressed a mammoth of crowd at Manyonyi village in Lugari Sub-County on Wednesday.
“We don’t want to see scenarios where new governors are held at ransom to clear pending bills amounting to millions of shillings on the would be white elephant or ghost projects,” Andabwa said.
He said such monies can be well utilized on other viable development projects across the county.
“A number of counties have so far initiated audits and Kakamega must follow suit,” Andabwa said.
He argued that Kakamega County receives the second highest allocation from the treasury after Nairobi County City government.
“Oparanya selectively focused on physical infrastructure and neglected tourism which is a key pillar in the region, ICT and human resource empowerment,” Andabwa said.
Andabwa said the current governor will rebrand himself and shed off the ‘project tag’ on his shoulders if he affects the said audit.
The politician claimed Azimio leadership rigged him out in the last general elections.
Andabwa announced that he had crossed over to UDA and was in full support of Kenya Kwanza government under the stewardship of H.E President William Samoei Ruto.
He, however, recognized that devolution had progressively shaped the way resources were allocated to meet priorities of communities within jurisdictions of the 47 county governments across the country.
Andabwa said administrative processes at the county level had progressively improved thereby enabling the establishment of systems and processes that seek to govern in the long term realization of devolution objectives at both national and county levels.
He said although general progress on devolution had been significant, more needed to be done especially for counties where previous marginalization, low penetration of infrastructure, structural and other socio-economic challenges alongside their geo – location with respect to the climatic zones of the country had made them and their inhabitants vulnerable.
“None the less, massive corruption has been cited in various counties, while perpetrators remain scot-free despite significant evidence against them. To fairly address the challenge, independent audits remain crucial prior to assuming office,” Andabwa said.
Mt Kenya Times