A graft case facing Garissa governor Ali Korane and four county officials has been received with mixed reactions by area residents.
Korane and the four officials are accused of corrupt practices involving Sh 233 million World Bank-funded Kenya Urban Support Programme (KUSP) project.
This is after the Director of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji approved charges as recommended by Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) following a probe into the matter.
Korane, the county’s chief of Finance Ibrahim Nur Malow, head of Treasury Mohamed Ahmed Abdullahi, County Executive Officer municipality Abdi Shale and head of Accounting at the municipal Ahmed Abdulahi Aden are expected in court anytime from Monday September 14.
The Five have been ordered to present themselves at EACC headquarters at the integrity centre Nairobi tomorrow by 6 am.
They will be charged with conspiracy to commit an offence, willful failure to comply with the law relating to the management of public funds, misappropriation of public funds under Public Finance Management Act 2012 and abuse of office.
The money was allegedly diverted on different occasions between February and September 2019.
According to a resident Abdikarim Aden the arrest and subsequent prosecution of those who will be found culpable will send a strong signal to public officials who have made it a habit of diverting public resources for own selfish gains.
“Ii is unfortunate that some public servants are using their positions to siphon public resources entrusted to them to better the lives of the common mwananchi.
We hope this is not another state PR exercise. We want to see public servants who have made it a habit of enriching themselves through stealing public resources behind bars,” Aden added.
On the other hand, those opposed to the prosecution of Korane and the quartet said the funds in question have been utilized to implement development
projects.
“It’s absurd for the DPP to okay the prosecution of governor Korane while the projects are ongoing. We read malice in this,” Zainab Mohamed said.
On his part Shabbel Abdi regretted that the matter has been politicized because governor Korane’s detractors are calling him names even before the case has started.
Commenting on the case Mukhtar Dahir warned against using graft cases to settle political scores. “I fully support war on graft but using it to destroy careers of public servants is a crime in itself. Let the due process be followed and justice prevail. This is the only way we will win the war on graft,” Dahir said.
By Jacob Songok
