Senior Kisii County government officials have been implicated in a syndicate in which the devolved unit has lost millions of shillings.
After taking over office, Governor Simba Arati has focused his attention on tackling corruption in the county revenue department. The officials are reported to be diverting money from revenue sources by making false per diem claims.
The county chief is targeting to overhaul the revenue department to streamline and improve revenue collection after it emerged that some officials were using fake receipt books in markets and revenue collection points.
This is happening at a time the county revenue department is struggling to meet its targets. The Controller of Budget and Auditor-General have in many of their reports flagged the devolved unit for not achieving its own revenue collection targets.
For instance, the County Finance executive Mr Moses Onderi revealed that in the Financial Year 2021/2022, the county collected Sh404 million out of the projected Sh650 million.
In 2022/2023 the county has projected to achieve the same target but this is likely to be a tall order unless the widespread corruption in the revenue department is curbed.
“In your first 100 days in office, Mr Governor, streamlining revenue collection in our county is one of our targets,” said Mr Onderi.
In the latest scandal, a senior employee has been accused of issuing instructions to junior section heads to deposit Sh60,000 to bank accounts of revenue clerks, claiming they were being paid their per diems.
The 150 revenue collectors were later asked to refund Sh45,000 which was sent to the senior officer for his personal use.
During a meeting between governor Arati and staff from the revenue department on Saturday at Gusii stadium, it was discovered that there were more fictitious deals involving senior department officers.
The meeting was also attended by Members of the County Assembly who vowed to support Mr Arati in his efforts to restore sanity in the Kisii County Government.
Mr Arati questioned the senior officers why they were diverting money meant for the development to improve services to residents.
An official from the revenue department told Mr Arati that she had been directed to collect the money and send it to her boss for repair of vehicles.
This is despite the fact that the head of revenue is not responsible for motor vehicle maintenance.
Mr Arati assured employees that any of them who will help expose the corruption in the revenue department will be rewarded.
“Anyone who volunteers more information about what they know on the looting of public resources shall be rewarded. You have no reason to fear me and not the corruption supervisors,” said Mr Arati.
He added, “I recently saw a dilapidated health centre where this money being stolen would be used to benefit the poor people.”
Mr Arati expressed frustration at what he described as the ‘institutionalisation’ of graft in the county, leading to heavy financial losses that have left a huge deficit in revenue targets.
Although the governor has transferred a number of officers who had been named in various scams while the country’s anti-corruption agency moves in to conduct forensic investigations to unearth the rot, the county is still reeling from a decade of corruption practices involving senior officials.
In one of the cases, a senior revenue official has been accused of pocketing over Sh6 million a month through manipulation of records to falsify revenue collected.
Mr Arati and his administration is worried about the huge financial deficit occasioned by the stealing.
He told employees whose salaries has not been paid since June that theft of funds was responsible for the delay.
He promised to streamline the employees’ salary payments and assured that he was working on modalities to ascertain that salaries were paid by the 5th of every month.
Mr Arati who has been nicknamed Magufuli of Kisii by some Kenyans in the Diaspora who have praised his crackdown on corruption has vowed to use every legal means to bring discipline and accountability to the county.
The governor’s ongoing crackdown has won praises from across the public and some of his admirers have likened him to the late Tanzanian President, Pombe Magufuli who fired dozens of senior government officers.
The governor whose anti-corruption crusade has been described as “operation drain the swamp” has been operating from Gusii Stadium where he is holding meetings with staff from each department.
After dealing with all departments, he will have a joint meeting with all county staff with an ongoing audit report made public and law enforcement officers take up necessary action.
Already, several counties across the country are borrowing from Mr Arati’s style of dealing with corruption and other bedevilling devolved units.
However, a few people have criticised his way of doing things where he parades staff and exposes their crooked ways.
But he has said that he will not be shaken by a few people whose aim is to promote and cover up corruption and will continue doing what he does best for the greater good of future generations. BY DAILY NATION