Three county officials face ouster over tender

By NAFTAL MAKORI

Three top officials in the County Assembly of Nyamira who allegedly played a role in the suspicious Sh30 million medical cover tender now face interdiction.

This comes days after Speaker Peter King’oina was impeached and leader of majority Beauttah Omanga ousted from the County Assembly Service Board.

The officers to be interdicted were adversely mentioned in the Public Investments and Accounts Committee report that probed the tender where the insurer was paid Sh30 million before providing the procured service.

Principal Finance Officer Nehemiah Nyakundi, acting clerk Duke Onyari and senior assistant clerk Peninah Kerama face interdiction over the suspicious tender.

Confirming this, deputy speaker Andrew Magangi said vacancies would be advertised soon to fill the positions.

“We have re-constituted the County Assembly Service Board after the speaker was impeached. Consequently James Mating’a, who is now the majority leader, will chair the board until a new speaker is elected,” said the deputy speaker.

The Assembly’s Legal Officer David Ombego assumes the role of acting clerk. Ombego is expected to write the interdiction letters to the implicated officers through the human resource department.

SHIFT BLAME

The board also appointed Erastus Machoka as the acting principal finance officer to replace Nyakundi. 

Meanwhile, Omanga has defended himself over claims that he confirmed minutes of a meeting held on March 25, 2014 that allegedly approved payment to Johncele Insurance Brokers Limited, a Kisumu-based company.

Through a text message, Omanga said the ex-speaker should not shift blame to him.

 “Who convened the meeting? Did he chair it? Assuming I signed without his consent, did he reverse it when he discovered the anomaly? He disappeared soon after the meeting and called me requesting that I sign for him,” said Omanga.

Omanga further said the minutes he signed did not indicate authority to pay.

 “It was the first ever minute he asked me to sign for reasons I am yet to understand. I was duped,” he said.

The suspicious tender for medical cover was opened, evaluated and awarded on the same day despite the evaluation report advising that it needed to be re-advertised.