The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission officers will henceforth be part of the interrogation team to grill county government officials appearing before the county assemblies to answer audit queries, Siaya speaker, George Okode has said.
Okode said unlike in the past when the county executive committee member and chief officers would appear before the county assembly public accounts committee members alone, both the EACC and the Auditor General will help strengthen the capacity of the PAC members in seeking answers to the questionable expenditure.
He was speaking at the County headquarters Monday during the swearing in of two county executive committee members, Rosenell Anyango Odondi (Education) and Cleophas Ombogo (Finance). The occasion was presided over by Siaya Principle Magistrate, James Ong’ondo and witnessed by Governor Cornell Rasanga among others.
The speaker called on the County Executive and their chief officers to ensure due diligence in the execution of their work to avoid audit questions.
“A time like this when we are starring at transition, we do not want a future where people who have served this country with honour for the longest time to be called to answer audit questions,” said Okode.
He said that every public official have a duty to answer audit questions and avail records on time to avoid giving the county a bad image.
Addressing the occasion, Governor Rasanga told the county executive committee members and the chief officers to ensure diligence while undertaking their tasks.
The governor lamented that governors have been forced to bear bad image whenever improprieties and audit queries are raised in their counties.
“People think that governors are privy to improprieties and some dirty things that are done by unscrupulous county government workers” he said adding that such things are done by corrupt individuals behind the back of the county bosses.
Rasanga told the county top officials to ensure that they responded promptly to audit queries and avail the required documents on time.
He said his government has formed a team to specifically handle audit queries to ensure that things run smoothly.
The county boss further challenged the newly appointed county finance CEC, Cleophas Ombogo to help put the finance docket in order, lamenting that this was the major hurdle in service delivery in the county.
By Philip Onyango
