(Kennedy Mong'are Okong'o was the first Nyamira Senator and the National Liberal Party leader)
The latest report by the Controller of Budget, Agnes Odhiambo paints a grim picture of development in our counties.
Most governors in the devolved units have allocated zero or just a negligible amount of funds for development in the 2018/2019 budget.
However, previous budgets for our counties haven't been any better.
In Nyamira County though, the situation is terrible. The governor has violated all the known laws in the management of the county.
He has violated the County Government Act, the Financial Management Act and other constitutional requirements.
One year down the line, the county’s budget has not been approved and the procurement plan hasn’t been uploaded yet for approval by the Controller of Budget.
Additionally, the county government through the executive is still bringing in new employees taking the number to 4, 500 against the constitutionally allowed number of just 1, 900 employees for Nyamira County.
With bribes of Sh50, 000, letters of employment are alleged to be issued by the county secretary courtesy of the orders from the executive.
Members of the County Assembly have a fair share of this mishap as they are working in cahoots with the executive.
They are part of this spree which is aided by the fact that majority of them hail from the ruling party which secured the governor a second term.
Only a few MCAs have raised their voices against this atrocity but they are legislatively outnumbered meaning their grievances always fall on deaf ears.
Further, elected leaders from the county must not shed crocodile tears on matters of corruption.
They must also account for all monies allocated to them for NG-CDF and road projects as they also been accused of nepotism and favouritism towards their cronies and close friends.
With such facts on the fore, collective action is beckoning. It is time for all constituents of Nyamira county to explore constitutional avenues of picketing and agitation for development sooner rather than later.
EACC and the DCI have taken a very long time in taking action on reported cases with tangible and actionable pieces of evidence.
If action is not taken as a matter of urgency, then, ten years later, Nyamira will be one of the less developed, marginalized and backward counties in Kenya.
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