Officials of the Trans Nzoia county government have been accused of buying and destroying all copies of your popular political newspaper, Weekly Citizen, after an expose that led to their arrest was reported.
Eliya Wakhongola, the county chains and procurement director is said to have been orchestrating the deal. We had reported that the county was losing millions of shillings allocated to fight Covid-19 by the cartel.
Eliya had been among fellow county chief officers, Charles Barasa and Philip Wasike who were arrested by detectives from the DCI for allegedly threatening to kill a supplier, one Edwin Bwanamo, for implicating them in a financial scam which led to the county government losing millions of shillings.
The detectives were able to record statements from finance officer Emmanuel Milimo who had previously evaded their dragnet.
Milimo’s questioning now brings the number of those who have recorded statements with police to four, even as other departmental heads, and junior officers are put on the DCI radar for possible arrests and prosecution.
One of the officials, Philip Wasike of public works is believed to be having Sh200 million in his Equity Bank account while Eliya who is said to be Sh950 million richer after working for less than 10 years, are the main faces of corruption .
Wasike who is on secondment from Kera is said to have amassed properties equivalent to a billion shillings in Kitale, Eldoret and Nakuru.
An officer at the National Intelligence Service in Kitale town told Weekly Citizen that some officers at the DCI were on the intelligence radar for “too much eating” at the expense of working to eradicate corruption.
“I wanted to see if they were really denying locals requests to justice as some have openly messed in a case whose file ON occurrence book 23/10/19 after raking in a total of Sh3.9 million thinking that walls have no ears,’’ he said.
Milimo has not surrendered to police despite numerous summonses to appear and answer charges. Milimo is said to be hiding at under one of his many lovers’ beds.
Initially, Wakhongola who has on various occasions been rumoured to be using his financial influence to engage in illicit sex with a wife of a top county officer was to be axed.
He was alleged to have been found red-handed in a Kisumu hotel when a top spy who had been contracted to track him found the two lovebirds entering a room last year.
Efforts by contractors to have him removed from office have fallen on deaf ears being an errand boy of some chief officers who are untouchable, Charles Barasa being one of them.
Human rights activist Brian Were absolved the governor from most of the financial mess the county is in, and told him to immediately sack Barasa from the docket of health.
Were asked the Inspector General of Police Hillary Mutyambai to explain why he had allowed the chief officer to have two armed security personnel attached to his office and home when he is not entitled to.
He told the Trans Nzoia county security committee to disarm the chief officers before they kill innocent citizens, including contractors and suppliers who are seen as enemies for demanding payments.
A supplier was recently nearly shot when he went to the health chief officer’s office demanding for payments, leading to an altercation.
He reported the case at Kitale Police Station vide OB 50/ 6/ 2020 and it is just a matter of time not when the monied chief officer who is Sh14 million richer from dirty deals will be re arrested.
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