Orengo under fire as county address skips stalled projects, unpaid bills

A stalled jetty at Usenge beach. [Isaiah Gwengi, Standard]

Governor James Orengo’s highly anticipated county address on Tuesday opened more fault lines within his administration after he steered clear of stalled projects, delayed contractor payments, and the outcomes of his frequent foreign trips.

In his third speech delivered before the County Assembly, Orengo highlighted achievements in agriculture, healthcare, governance, and revenue collection, but conspicuously avoided touching on the dozens of incomplete ward projects and the financial bottlenecks crippling development across the county.

Addressing the house in a low-key event, the governor said the county’s revenue collection system has improved following the phased roll-out of the cashless mechanism.

“The last financial year 2024/2025 recorded the highest performance at Sh948.12 million, a milestone we largely attribute to the Automation of the Revenue Collection System. Cumulatively, we realized a total of Sh2 billion in Own Source Revenue,” explained Orengo.

He added that once fully automated and the valuation roll approved by the Assembly, the revenue collection is projected to increase by 100 per cent while its administration costs are expected to decline by 50 per cent.

To ensure that our staff establishment is optimally productive, Orengo said his administration will ensure that officers who are currently serving in acting capacities, including the position of CEC for Finance, the CEO of the County Public Service Board as well as CECs and COs whose contracts are due for review and existing vacancies as provided in the staff establishment, are advertised and processed expeditiously.

“This also applies for the County Public Service Board Members whose terms are lapsing and in due course,” said Orengo.

On the alleged recruitment of about 500 healthcare workers into the county’s workforce, Governor Orengo said preliminary investigations indeed reveal that there is nothing to support the claims that the individuals concerned were procedurally and lawfully recruited by the County Public Service Board, and deployed by the Department of Health.

“It is however apparent that there was occurrence of fraud and bribery, aspects of which are now with investigative authorities. However, to the extent that we can secure a budget and the proper establishment through this Assembly, we may be able to address the plight of some of the individuals involved in accordance with the law,” he said.

On pending bills, the county boss stated that an outstanding pending bill balance of Sh513.8 million remained unpaid as at the end of the last financial year.

“Our administration has established a strong fiscal framework to ensure progressive reduction of the pending bills,” he said.

However, the governor, who has in the last three years made more than four foreign trips in search of partnerships and investors, did not outline any tangible development or investment agreements arising from the costly visits.

According to the latest report by Controller of Budget, Orengo’s administration has spent Sh26 million on foreign travels.

In the first nine months of the FY 2022/2023, the executive spent Sh4.1 million on foreign trips. That same year, in January 2023, Orengo flew to Turkey for a week-long tour to lobby for donors for health-sector investment.

The Turkish 3T Group pledged to renovate hospitals and supply medical consumable.
Despite trips to Canada, India, Qatar, Egypt and Iran, the governor did not reference any foreign-funded project or investment agreements in his Tuesday address.

Also missing from the governor’s speech was the status of stalled projects across the county, an issue residents say affects them more directly.

“We have a stalled Usenge town ring road project that the governor mentioned as one of his flagship projects. Nothing has been going on here for the last three months despite being assured that the project would take the shortest time to be completed,” said Mathews Odongo, a trader in Usenge.

MCAs who spoke to The Standard argued that the governor’s address failed to reflect the county’s development realities.

“You cannot talk about achievements and ignore projects that have stalled like the Siaya Industrial Park in Got Akara,” said an MCA.

Speaking in the Assembly ahead of the governor’s address, North Ugenya MCA Ben Adala raised concern over stalled projects and delayed payment of contractors.

“There are several stalled projects in the wards because contractors have not been paid. This is making it more difficult to tell the electorate why the governor should be re-elected,” said Adala.

He said the silence on the stalled projects was a deliberate attempt to avoid accountability, adding that ward residents were already growing impatient.

Key projects affected include road upgrades, markets and stalled health facilities whose construction had already consumed significant budgetary allocations.