Impeached Siaya Deputy Governor William Oduol has now blamed the County head of procurement and accounting officer for the irregular purchase of a Sh1.1 million orthopedic chair.
Appearing before the Senate Committee investigating his ouster, Oduol emphasised that he had no role in the renovations being undertaken in his office.
While denying the four allegations including gross misconduct and abuse of office leveled against him, Oduol stated that he did not initiate the renovation process that cost tax payers Sh18 million.
Senators were told that Sh18 million was used for office renovation of which, Sh1.1 million was used to purchase a presidential chair and office soundproofing worth Sh2 million.
He explained that Siaya Governor James Orengo initiated the procurement process when he visited his office and witnessed its dilapidated state.
“The renovation was initiated by the Governor himself. There was no engagement from my office throughout the procurement process,” said Oduol.
Oduol further questioned why Oreno did not arrest the matter on the irregular procurement of office renovation as he was consistently receiving a briefing from the acting Finance County Executive Jack Odinga.
He defended himself saying the financial report of the county particularly focused on huge spending within the county budget.
“The briefing I would receive related to Treasury and that’s where we had significant loopholes that we needed to seal,” he said.
Oduol said he wasn’t aware that the Sh18 million spent to renovate his office wasn’t approved by the county assembly blaming the Chief Accounting Officer and Procurement Officer for the irregular usage.
“I was tongue tied, shocked to see that Sh 1.1 million was used to procure that chair which was brought to my office. If my staff is found culpable, they should be held culpable,” he said.
Fair Hearing
The Deputy Governor said that he was wrongfully impeached as the Adhoc committee investigating his impeachment at the county level denied him a chance to a fair hearing.
“I expected I would give oral responses to the rebuttals but that didn’t happen. The committee went to prosecute and make a determination without giving me a fair chance,” Oduol narrated.
“All the statement of any witness wasn’t accompanied by any evidence to rely on,”he added.
He further poked holes in the impeachment motion saying East Asembo MCA Gordon Onguru failed to prosecute his motion before the oversight committee investigating the motion.
“Onguru didn’t appear to testify or lay evidence to his motion or any witness to testify. Onguru abandoned his motion to the special committee which was supposed to be a neutral arbiter,” Oduol stated.
Further,he alleged that the unanimous decision by Siaya County Assembly to impeach him was because the county administration allocated monthly allowances to the MCAs impeding the oversight role of the Executive.
“The assembly is in bed with the executive. I protested that this is a breach of law because the county assembly is independent. County assembly couldn’t look at my access independently,” Oduol stated.
Other accusations against the Deputy Governor include interference with the procurement process through bid rigging and incitement of the public on falsehoods.
Bad Blood
Oduol blamed the frosty relationship between him and his boss James Orengo for his predicaments for raising queries on financial malpractices in the county a few months into office.
“I felt frustrated when I raise the issues with the Governor expecting sanctions but that didn’t happen. We had a close relationship with Governor for three months when we got into office but when I raised this issue there was a bit of disengagement,” he said.
The Deputy Governor narrated how Siaya Governor moved to transfer county secretaries who had questionable character and were facing investigations before the Ethics And Anti-Corruption Commission for theft of Sh 1Billion during the previous administration.
Oduol lamented that Governor Orengo failed to consult him which was the modus operandi and blatantly ignored advice from his cabinet impending their transfers due to the ongoing investigation.
“In January our communication reduced and in February he ignored experts advise and transferred three individuals back to finance who had engaged in theft of Sh 600M and Sh 400M,” Oduol said.
He noted that the reinstatement of the individuals under investigation on theft culpability raised a red flag on the continuity of public funds siphoning.
“When he returned the finance officials I knew enough was enough.I decided to move to the matter to the electorate and let them know what was going on.I didn’t want to wait for five years to talk about this,” Odoul said.
The embattled Deputy Governor said he found himself in a tight spot when he questioned why Sh 176B was added as part of the verified pending pill yet the internal audit on pending billion verified Sh 818B.
He requested an internal audit on the additional pending bill which didn’t happen despite his plea.
“I protested and I said we are not going to pay this until its subjected to internal audit.I thereafter through a memo written to county secretary to investigate how Sh 176M sneaked in.Thats not pocket change,” Oduol told senators.
On abnormal imprest withdrawal, Oduol told senators that Sh 100M was fraudulently withdrawn within three months from the imprest account which was a violation of the Central Bank Regulation.
“I raised issues with the Governor and he denied knowledge of the withdrawals.I didn’t pursue it any further because I knew it wouldn’t be an issue anymore,”
