The county government of Nyamira is under immense pressure to release the official list of delegates expected to travel for a devolution conference in Meru that kicks off on Wednesday.
Speaking to the reporter on Sunday, a group of human rights activist led by Mars Group’s representative Alice Mang’era said the move will help counter accusations and counter accusations after the conference by enhancing accountability and equity.
“We call upon the county government to release the official list of people travelling to Meru for the conference. We want accountability and equity to avoid instances of political intrigues afterwards,” she said.
“It’s really disappointing that the list has been made a chief secret with few days remaining. We also want to know the criteria used to pick the attendants,” she added.
They also demanded that the county government makes the expenditures for the three day conference public for the accountability purposes.
“The county government must be accountable so it’s also important that they make the expenses expected to be incurred throughout the conference public for scrutiny,” Mang’era added.
In 2015, devolution conference that was held in Kisumu sparked controversy from section of county residents who accused the county government for giving county employees first priority with allegations of confirming attendance of ghost people by exaggerating the number of attendants.
Efforts to get a response from County Secretary Erick Onchana were futile since he could neither pick the phone call nor replay to text messages.