Six residents of Wajir County have accused Governor Ahmed Abdullahi's government of embezzling Sh1 billion.

However, the governor, who appeared before the Senate Finance committee yesterday, dismissed the claim, and said the allegations were the work of his political opponents out to spoil his name.

The residents, in their petition to the committee, had accused the governor of misappropriating funds, breaching procurement laws and abuse of office.

The petitioners purported that the county government under the governor's watch had rented office space for Sh600,000 monthly, hired 200 vehicles for county operations at exorbitant prices and "drilled 60 non-existent boreholes".

They also censured the governor over alleged skewed employment, awarding salaries in total disregard of the specified guidelines by the Salaries and Remunerations Commission (SRC) and failure to initiate projects in line with the county integrated development plan.

Senators Anyang Nyong'o (Kisumu), John Lonyangapuo (West Pokot), Moses Wetang'ula (Bungoma), Peter Mositet (Kajiado) took the governor to task over his administration's expenditure and claims that companies associated with the members of the county assembly (MCAs) were being awarded tenders.

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Mr Abdullahi assured the committee that no money has been misappropriated, saying Auditor General Edward Ouko's reports had confirmed the same.

"In the mentioned financial year in the petition, no money was misused. The auditor has not in any way painted a negative picture of any loss or misappropriation of funds. It is unfortunate for anybody to claim that the county government has mismanaged Sh1 billion," said Abdullahi (pictured).

He continued: "We are open to scrutiny though transition to devolved units has not been easy. All these allegations are not true and are aimed at maligning me by my political opponents."

Mr Wetang'ula who is also the Senate Minority Leader, Nyongo, Kagwe and Nyong'o took issue with the drilling of 60 boreholes and the rental charges for office facilities.

"It's absurd that a county like Wajir would pay Sh30,000 a month for an office space, this is higher than the market price in Nairobi. The is a serious problem and we need to know if the evaluation was properly done," said Kagwe.

But the governor told the senators that the building has 22 offices, nine conference halls and an open space for parking around 60 vehicles.

"An evaluation was done by the ministry of Housing. The county didn't have any infrastructure when we took over. We have no option but to rent from private developers and non-governmental organisations. We are building our own premises expected to be complete by February next year," Abdullahi said.

However, the legislators insisted on the matter, seeking to know if there was value for money.

"We know Wajir is among some of the counties with no infrastructure but was the procurement done in line with Government provisions. Paying Sh600,000 for rent in the bush is too much," said Prof Lonyangapuo.

Wetangula asked the Governor to present a list of vehicles hired by his government and the cost. The governor said that Wajir has 176 boreholes and challenged the senators to visit the county to confirm.