Homa Bay County Is The Most Corrupt In Nyanza, EACC Says

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has outed Homa Bay County as the most scandal ridden and where corruption thrives as compared to other counties in Nyanza.

Speaking to Ramogi TV, the commission’s chair David Oginde accused Governor Gladys Wanga administration of mismanaging funds by creating a conducive environment for pilferage. He said conferences, foreign travels are some of the conduits that are being used to loot the county.

Questioned about the scale of corruption, Dr. Oginde says it’s running into billions of public money stolen. “The only work that’s being done in Homa Bay is stealing public funds and here we’re talking about billions.” He said.

The county has in the past faced with accusations of paying billions to contractors for no work done and in the line lost billions of taxpayers money. A recent audit also discovered 1,786 ghost workers who were receiving salaries funded by taxpayers, the county lost Sh300M annually.

Another group was found to have used fake academic qualifications to secure employment with bogus job classifications and promotions.

County employees have also consistently complained of salary delays in which they say go for months without pay.

The county has also been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the government’s lined up mega-infrastructural projects as part of President William Ruto’s socioeconomic transformation agenda for the Nyanza region. The new EACC report now leaves a lot to doubt whether the goals will be achieved if the corruption scale continues.

Opinions polls have however favored Governor Wanga positioning her as amongst the best performing governors in Kenya thanks to her excellent PR performance that has made her a darling of many even winning praises from government affiliated leaders. She’s also one of the few governors from Luo Nyanza who frequents government offices without fear of being labeled a rebel. Many have also praised the governor for initiating development projects in the county.

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EACC says graft in counties could significantly reduce if County Governors implemented key reform recommendations arising from the Corruption Risk Assessments undertaken by EACC in 28 out of 47 county governments. The failure by county bosses to embrace this preventive approach has left most devolved units with weak accountability systems that allow open theft of public funds.