By Correspondent
The Commission of Administrative Justice has directed the county government of Homa Bay to furnish it with various documents relating to the alleged irregular award of contracts for the construction of Homa Bay Arboretum and reactional infrastructure for Sh 30,333,568 for Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLOCA) grant.
In a letter addressed to the county secretary and copied to Mr.Evance Otieno Oloo of Interface Community Help Desk, the complaint was over the failure of the county government to furnish him with the documents.
In the letter signed by Viola Ochola for the Commission secretary and chief executive officer directed the county government to supply it with the documents within seven days.
It read in parts, “The commission notes that the timeline for responding to the request has lapsed without a response to the requestor. As such this is to for request your institution’s report pursuant to section 22(3) a) of the Access to Information Act, 2016 within seven days to enable the commission make a decision on
the application.’’
“Kindly note that if no response is received from your institution within the indicated timeline, the commission may proceed to make a decision, your response notwithstanding,’’ the letter read
in parts.
The organization also requested for additional information and details of the tendering process, tender advertisement, bid evaluations and the criteria for selecting the winning bidder. Contractor identification, no billboard has been erected giving details of the contractor.
How M/S Christonel Enterprises Limited was allegedly awarded four tenders without undergoing a competitive tendering process.Justification for the repeated payments made to the Nyandiwacommunity water project.
Clarification on why the tenders were not publicly advertised as required by the Public Procurement and Disposal Assets Act 2015. Sources within the county told Western Insight that the cost of construction of the facility was exaggerated and failed to guarantee value for money.
Attempts to get a comment from the county Secretary Prof Muok were futile as he did not pick up his calls and did not answer the text messages
Earlier, another Organization had also written to the World Bank to terminate further disbursement of Sh358,146,147 Financing Locally Led Climate Action (FLLoCA) grant to the County Government of Homa Bay.
The Devolution Defenders Network Forum (DEDENEFO) a Human Rights Defender Organization alleged massive impropriates by some of the County Government officials in terms of a breach in prudent financial management and international standards practice of integrity and the rule of law.
This was according to a letter dated October 2 2024 and signed by Executive Director DEDENOFO the Chairperson, Interface Community Help Desk Evance Otieno Oloo, and Eugine Obisa member Interface Community Help Desk a local CBO.
The letter has been copied to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the United Nations Climate ChangeSecretariat (UNFCCC) UN Campus and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
“Following the allocation of the FLLoCA County Resilience Investment (CCRI) grant to Homa Bay County Government in the Republic of Kenya amounting to Sh358,146,147 for the Financial year 2023/2024 of which a massive impropriety has continuously been involved in terms of a breach in prudent financial management and international and international standard practices of integrity
and the rule of law,” reads the letter in parts.
“We urgently request that your organization re-consider any further disbursement of these funds due to gross violation of the constitution of Kenya and other laws, including the Public Finance Management Act 2012, the Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act and the Customer Protection Act” noted CBO.
The Organization further alleged that the County Government’s action has further violated the Environmental Management and Coordination ACT (EMCA) and relevant International Legal Instruments as read with Articles 2(5) and 2(6) of the Constitution of Kenya.
According to Oloo as a human rights organization, they have consistently flagged this violation to various Kenyan Government agencies which include the Governor, the County Government of Homa Bay, and the County Assembly.
Other agencies include the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) the Water Resource Authority, The Ethics and Anti-corruption, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Directorate of Criminal Investigation, the National Treasury, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change, The Office of the President in charge of FlloCA Capacity building and the Programs Coordinator FLLoCA.
“We believe that the World Bank, being a respected global institution that upholds the rule of law and integrity in the use of public funds and with the urgent global threats of climate change, biodiversity loss and population, expect that all allocated funds should be used prudently for their intended purpose,” reads the letter.
“We therefore demand that the World Bank swiftly halt any further allocation of funds to the Homa Bay County Government until the matter is heard and concluded in court.”
The organization further demands that some of the government officers who are the CECM Water Irrigation Sanitation Environment Energy and Climate Change Dr. JoashAloo and his chief Officer Prof.DonaldOgweno who have been allegedly been implicated in gross misconduct should not be entrusted with the management of any grants geared to the support of humanity and the sustainability of the environment until duly cleared by the court of law.
Other Officers include County Director of Climate Change RoyOdongo and FLLoCA Fund Accountant Edward Aseda. The organization has filed a case in the Environment and LandCourt case No. E002 OF 2024 where the directions will be delivered on November 6, 2024.
