Nairobi — The besieged Siaya Deputy Governor William Oduol has dismissed allegations leveled against him by Siaya County Assembly saying he is a mere victim of a 'hunter become hunted.'
Making his opening statement before Senate Adhoc Committee investigating his impeachment motion, Oduol told the Senators that his quest to control the siphoning of funds in Siaya County had instigated the accusations against him.
In November last year, Oduol said he had flagged huge amounts withdrawal on imprest by the acting Chief Finance Officer Jack Odinga which had contravened the Public Finance Management Act and the Central Bank Regulations.
He narrated that the abnormal huge withdrawal from the imprest happened on close frequency which showed attempts to escape the audit trail.
"There is restriction to how much you can withdraw from imprest. Most transaction for audit trail must pass through IFMIS so that you can track and establish the reasonable of the spend. When you transfer recurrent expenditure to audit you lose the audit trail," said Oduol.
The Deputy Governor after threatening the acting CFO that he would present the issue before the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission he went ahead to claim the withdrawals which amounted to Sh100 million were channeled to Governor James Orengo.
"He told the committee that he would withdraw the money and take it to the governor James Orengo but I was not convinced. I decided to inquire with Orengo who said he wasn't receiving the money but I knew if he was doing it would act as deterrent," Oduol said.
Oduol told Senators that in a period of three months that a sum of Sh100 million had been withdrawn.
The bad blood between Oduol and his boss James Orengo emerged when he questioned him over the abnormal imprest withdrawal.
"The final nail in the coffin was sometime in February when Governor without consultation and against his Finance CEC and appointed individuals that were under investigations by EACC to their original positions," the Deputy Governor said.
Oduol expressed that the nature of his impeachment was choregraphed and misguided only because he was opposed to maladministration.
"I have challenged the status quo. I am the proverbial hunter that has become hunted. The grooming of political lines informs and coils the impeachment motion against me," he said.
Evidence tabled before the Senate Adhoc committee investigating the impeachment motion against Siaya Deputy Governor William Oduol embezzled Sh18 million of the taxpayer's monies.
During the opening remarks on the case against Oduol, Siaya County Assembly Counsel Willis Otieno outlined how the Deputy Governor embezzled county funds to renovate his office for personal comfort.
"The county had spent Sh18 million of the taxpayer's monies for the personal comfort of an individual. We will demonstrate that Sh18 million constitutes 20 percent of the county's bursary allocation," said Otieno.
The Senate ad hoc Committee was told how Oduol used Sh1.1 million to procure a "presidential" single chair in disregard of the procurement plan.
"The former DG has successfully served the people of Siaya with the same furniture without condemnation by public works department. The first thing he did was to intimidate and bully the procurement for his personal comfort," said Otieno.
Further, Oduol is accused of spending Sh 2M to make his office sound proof.
"This will we demonstrate as an inceptive act he did immediately he got into office.We will demonstrate what Sh 18M could have done to the people of Siaya and the people of Kenya," Otieno stated.
The Deputy Governor has been put on the spotlight as the Sh 18M that has apparently been spent on his personal comfort was never approved in the budgetary allocation by Siaya County Assembly.
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"The county assembly never approved the commitment of the Sh 18M for personal comfort of an individual," Otieno narrated.
Oduol is also accused of interfering with the procurement process of seed and fertilizers which is a contravention of the constitution and the public procurement act.
Siaya County Assembly is accused of bullying and forcing the procurement officers to change the specification of tender by allowing all groups to bid for the tender.
The county had reserved the tender for marginalized and vulnerable groups which include youth, women and personal with disabilities.
"The end result is that the procurement process collapsed as the officers who were being intimidated and harassed had to determinate that procurement contract," the Siaya county counsel said.
"The officer had to start writing emails at 2am in the morning to his superiors on how he was being given pressure by the Deputy Governor," he added.
