The Speaker of Siaya County Assembly Mr. George Okode on Thursday afternoon held a media briefing that carried all the makings of a stage-managed denial of the Impeachment Motion against Governor James Aggrey Bob Orengo.
The briefing which he was quick to assert was only a conversation took place at the County Assembly one hour later than the scheduled time of 12:00 noon.
While the media was free to ask questions the Speaker was apparently out to mend fences following leaked information about the impending Impeachment Motion by South Gem MCA against Governor Orengo.
“As of now I want to clarify there’s no Impeachment Motion tabled against the Governor or the CEC Finance. The procedure to have such a motion is for the mover to draft grounds of Impeachment, secure the requisite signatures, take to the Clerk of the Assembly for approval, after which the Speaker is informed. I can tell you as of now there’s no such motion in the county assembly of Siaya,” said George Okode.
Earlier on a document alleging a motion of Impeachment had been filed in the Siaya County Assembly against the County Executive Committee Member for Finance and Economic Planning, Benedict Abonyo Omollo circulated on social media.
Speaker Ojode disowned the document. He also acknowledged that MCAs had been cooped in a meeting with the Governor at a Kisumu hotel on Monday night.
“The meeting was a regular working meeting between the Governor and the MCAs. We had one on Sunday and we shall have another tonight.”
When asked what could be so pressing as to necessitate this nocturnal meetings, Ojode digressed and went into a long tirade about the law being clear about MCAs getting tenders from the County Government.
Fingers are pointing squarely at the Speaker for masterminding attempts to impeach the Governor.
As for Mr. Omollo it won’t be the first time he faces arbitrary sacking at the hand of cartels. In 2015 while working as a Finance Director in the Judiciary, Mr. Abonyo was sacked.
Subsequently the Employment and Labour Relations Court would order the Judiciary to reinstate Mr. Benedict Abonyo Omollo.
Justice Monicah Mbaru in her judgment against the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) found that Omollo was wrongfully dismissed in 2015.
Some of the issues that informed Omollo’s sacking were the Chief Justice’s house, pre-fabricated court houses, and a lease for a building to house Court of Appeal judges.
Interestingly the Judicial Service Commission had blamed Omollo for allowances issued to Judiciary employees who travelled outside the country.
Nothing has changed. The forthright, fearless and hardworking finance boss has just questioned how KES 10 million could be paid as Allowances to those who travelled with Siaya Governor James Orengo to Qatar. A number of Members of County Assembly came out in support of Abonyo and even threatened to table a Bill in the Assembly to discuss the conduct of the Governor on flagrant expenditures.
The Governor moved very fast and after a trans-night meeting with the MCAs at a posh Kisumu Hotel it was decided that Abonyo must go.
The MCAs have fabricated the unconscionable charges of abuse of the constitution and other matters.
The travails of Abonyo begun in May when it was rumoured he supplied Deputy Governor Dr William Oduol Denge with hard evidence of corruption among the Executive.
Like the former Chairman of Siaya Public Service Board Dr. Elijah Achoch, Benedict Abonyo Omollo was a hard-tack professional; clean, upright and one who would rarely buldge in compromising his morals and ethics.
With the exeunt of Benedict Abonyo Omollo, Governor Orengo has virtually cleared any form of obstacle against his cronies doing anything they want with the finances of Siaya County Government.
Meanwhile, an insider source at the Assembly has confirmed: “The MCAs only agreed to back down during the Monday night meeting in exchange for Waziri. He has been a big obstacle in the illegal process of procuring payments on tenders upfront. Most of the tenders the MCAs are taking are above their ability to service, so there’s been furtive arrangements to be paid ahead of delivery. That kind of criminality is what Waziri opposed.”
Why the Speaker and his team made a sudden about-turn over the Impeachment will be evident tonight. Our mole is in place.
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