[Mr. Chris Obure and Joash Maangi welcome president Uhuru Kenyatta in hias recent tour to Kisii. They have accused Governor James Ongwae of mismanagement. Photo/nation.co.ke]
Candidates in the Kisii Governorship race yesterday traded accusations even as they intensified their campaigns for the seat .
Separately Mr Chris Obure and Manson Oyongo fingered Governor James Ongwae accusing him of presiding a ‘corrupt government that is eternally bent on wanton looting’.
And speaking by phone, Senatorial candidate Omingo Magara vowed to have the governor jailed for evils he had been committing while in office.
On Saturday, Obure and Nyamweya said there were too many ghost workers, among them concubines, in the devolved unit who had been driving up the wage bill.
“Someone cannot go on doing things like this and we keep quite. We are ready to raise our voices to ensure there is probity in the administration of our County,” said Senator Obure when he met members of the business community at a Kisii Hotel.
The former Bobasi MP said for the last four years the County Governor had been on a looting spree while abandoning to the duty to undertake development.“If has been even difficult for me as a Senator is to oversight a man stubbornly bent on thieving,” he said adding that all the funds misappropriated by the administration must be recovered when he becomes governor.
South Mugirango MP Manson Oyongo said so deep is graft in the devolved unit that large junks of the development budgets can barely be accounted for.
“Whenever I see mounds of earth lying on the middle of the roads with no contractor on sight I know here also lies a case that need to be probed so that the electorate can be told where their money had gone to,” said Mr Oyongo.
Speaking by phone however, Senatorial candidate Omingo Magara blamed Obure for the rot in Kisii County.
Instead he promised to lead the efforts in the recovery of the said lost cash and instigate the arrests and prosecutions of the perpetrators.
Mr Magara who came third in the last Senatorial race, said the jailing of looting suspects will spur prudent use of the resources to improve development in the region.
He said it would not be business as usual at the County administration once he sets foot at the Senate.
He said there is a likelihood of looters sneaking into leadership if the electorate will be swept by the popularity wave.
On his part however, Governor Ongwae accused his opponents of doing little to improve the lives of their voters.
“Let them tell us what they have done all these while they have been in politics. Nothing,” he said.