Impeached deputy governor faces his accusers in Senate

Impeached Machakos deputy governor Bernard Kiala yesterday told the Senate that he was hounded out of office for his fight against corruption, nepotism and impunity in the management of the county’s affairs.

Mr Kiala told the 11- member special committee that is hearing his impeachment that he fell out with Governor Alfred Mutua after he insisted that action be taken on the auditor- general’s report that pointed to malpractices in the county government’s procurement activities.

Mr Kiala accused Dr Mutua of nepotism, embezzlement of county cash and irregular appointments that were done without the approval of the county’s public service board and the Machakos County Assembly. He said Dr Mutua had appointed 50 out of 106 chief officers from among relatives, cousins and spouses of his cronies.

In his submissions to the committee chaired by Nyeri Senator Mutahi Kagwe, Mr Kiala said Dr Mutua’s appointments were not approved by the county public service board as required by law. He tabled a list of top officers he claimed are either related to Dr Mutua or his relatives to back his nepotism claims.

“When I raised these issues, Dr Mutua and the county executive became very uncomfortable and hatched a plot to kick me out,” he said. “I had a choice of keeping quiet and closing my eyes to these irregularities but I chose not. I spoke against them and that is why I had to be kicked out,” he said.

Irregularities

Mr Kiala said Dr Mutua had appointed him to head a county executive subcommittee to look into revenue collection and make recommendations on how it could be enhanced in the Mavoko sub-county. The team was made up of five executive members.

“The sub-committee unearthed a lot of irregularities in revenue collection, including failure to bank collected revenue,” he said, adding that there was overwhelming evidence of use of parallel receipts that were not in the county records.

One officer - Moses Muthusi - was found to have collected revenue and banked it in his personal account, the embattled deputy governor told the committee. He said he shared the contents of the report with Dr Mutua for guidance before tabling it with the county executive committee where it was recommended that the officer be investigated by the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission for theft.

He said Dr Mutua disbanded the committee before it could present the report to the entire executive team and also appointed Mr Muthusi as sub-county administrator in Mavoko without the approval of the county public service board. “Moses Muthusi was not interviewed or sanctioned by the county public service board as is required by law, but Dr Mutua appointed him the county administrator,” Mr Kiala said.

The deputy governor accused Dr Mutua of failing to heed his warnings on corruption.

“As the deputy governor occupying a constitutional office and bound by oath of office, I cautioned the governor on these excesses at the beginning of the term and the governor has on very many occasions reminded me that he enjoys executive powers just like the President and as such I should shut up or resign from my office,” he said.

Mr Kiala said no action had been taken on Auditor-General Edward Ouko’s recommendations that officers who single sourced contracts be surcharged. He told the committee that when he insisted that the county government acts on the report that, among other issues, questioned expenditure of Sh2.88 million on the funeral of Makueni Senator Mutula Kilonzo, Dr Mutua reacted with fury.

Mr Kiala claimed that Dr Mutua bought used vehicles at inflated prices of between Sh2.6 million and Sh7 million per unit through single sourcing. “The Sh7 million is equivalent to the loan that Parliament gives a Senator to buy a new car,” he said.

Mr Kiala also claimed that Dr Mutua spent Sh7.5 million within three months of assuming office in what was termed as confidential expenditure.

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