A revenue collector at Kisumu county government was allegedly beaten by the Head of Inspectorate sparking off demonstrations with demands that the latter be kicked out of the office for habitually attacking employees over petty issues.
The revenue collectors have subsequently called for disciplinary action against John Kabong’ or they continue staying away from their places of work until when their grievances will have been addressed.
Trouble started when the Head of Inspectorate, John Kabong’ set out to lay traps for those who collected revenue to line their pockets instead of remitting to the county coffers, following persistent complaints from the public.
In this specific incident, Lawrence Ooko and others were on the radar of Kabong who on the fateful day (yesterday) allegedly witnessed first-hand as Ooko pocketed payment from seven vehicles without using the Point of Sale system (PS).
Kabong’ then confronted Ooko and that was the time all hell broke loose culminating in the former allegedly slapping him out of rage.
He proceeded to grab the PS machine from the revenue collector (Ooko) attracting curious members of the public who converged to know what had transpired.
This morning, Kisumu County Workers Secretary-General Rashid Ondu led furious revenue collectors who stormed the County Secretary (CS) Godffrey Kigochi’s office demanding that action be taken against Kabong’.
However, Ondu and his colleagues after consultation with CS Kigochi appealed to the revenue collectors to return to work as the matter was being handled at a very high level with a meeting set for next week Monday to settle it once and for all.
Kigochi confirmed that the matter was reported to him and a meeting involving union representatives, his office, and other relevant stakeholders will finally be held on Monday next week to avoid further disruption of revenue collection.
He appealed for calm pointing out that there was no point blowing the matter out of proportion as it could escalate into a full-scale conflict with far-reaching consequences for all parties.
The CS argued that a problem shared and elaborately discussed must always bear positive results without unnecessary antagonism.
Reliable sources confided to KNA that Ooko filed a complaint at Kisumu Central Police station and was issued with a P3 Form although this could not be immediately confirmed.
by Joseph Ouma
