Kenya: Section of Bomet Legislators Want Barchock Charged With Graft

12 November 2024

Nairobi — A section lawmakers from Bomet now want Governor Hillary Barchok charged over alleged corruption and misappropriation of funds in the county.

The legislators led by Senator Hillary Sigei singled out mismanagement of various hospitals that allegedly led to the death of a three-year-old patient Ruth Chepngeno due to negligence at Longisa Hospital.

The lawmakers now calling on the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission to take action taken on the governor and the County executive oficers.

"Bomet County is a hub of corruption. For the last three years nothing has been going on. We want to see heads rolling and action being taken against those engaging in mis- appropriation of funds,"said Sigei.

The first time lawmaker decried the bad state of hospitals in the county with the death of the three year old patient showcasing the mismanagement of public hospitals.

"In Bomet county nothing is working. Bomet is in ICU in terms of development.There is nothing going on. People here are only paying for hot air, nothing else,"

" As of now we are not interested in impeachment, we need action. If the governor is charged then we will not need this impeachment thing,"Sigei said.

He regretted that so bad is the state of hospitals in the county that the governor's kin whenever they fall sick are rushed to other hospitals to get treatment as local hospitals do not have facilities to take care of patients.

Sigei was flanked by Richard Yegon (Bomet East), Richard Kilel (Bomet Central),Brighton Yegon (Konoin), Joyce Korir (Nominated) and Francis Sigei (Sotik).

Bomet East MP warned the governor that his days are numbered should he fail to address the current concerns going on the at county.

"The issue of corruption in the county needs to be addressed by investigative agencies including the Sh 1.6Billion.This issue must be arrested immediately and those involved found culpable,"the lawmaker said.

MP Yegon claimed that the county is now on its deathbed due to mismanagement of funds including County executive officers paying for no non-existent tenders.

"Bomet is a hot bed of corruption infact we have some officers who got to the offices just to fill the LPOs and LSOs for non-existent projects.Thats why we have no development in Bomet,we must see head rolls on this one,"said Konoin MP.

This comes even as eight Bomet County officials were questioned by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission on Thursday over alleged embezzlement of Sh1.53 billion.

In an operation targeted CECs, Chief Officers, and Senior county officers,EACC is pursuing Sh1.5 billion fraudulent payments to companies allegedly owned by unnamed County officials.

"The suspects have allegedly abused their positions of trust and authority to embezzle public funds through collusion, procurement fraud, and payments for non-existent or substandard services," said EACC spokesperson Eric Ngumbi.

AllAfrica publishes around 500 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.