Bungoma governor Wycliffe Wafula Wamangati has found himself in hot soup after failing to account for over Ksh 20 million COVID -19 funds.
According to a report by the auditor general, Bungoma county was allocated more than Ksh 20 million to help fight COVDID-19 but the county misappropriated the funds.
Former Bungoma governor Ken Lusaka who is also the current senate speaker and Bungoma senator Moses Masika Wetangula called out the county boss for mismanagement of the funds.
“We feel embarrassed … I want to tell our governor that when we say do the right thing it is not because we hate you, we love you more,” said Wetangula.
According to Wangamati’s government, the money has not been mismanaged but was relocated for training.
A probe by the auditor general has however, blamed the county for not providing required documents including details of persons trained, signed attendance list, authority to pay participants for training or even approved conference and facilitators rates to support the utilization of the funds as he claimed.
Kivumbi.co.ke understands that this is not the first case of misappropriation of C OVID-19 funds by Wangamati led government.
In 2020, Wangamati hit news headline for siphoning COVID-19 funds.
This was after reports emerged claiming Bungoma county bought 600 empty 20 litter jerrican at a cost of Ksh 10,000 each for handwashing in the fight against COVID-19.
Wangamati’s government once again refused to buy personal protective equipment for its COVID-19 response team amounting to Ksh 123,000 but instead borrowed close to Ksh 7 million for awareness campaign.
Apart from Bungoma, Meru county has also been accused of siphoning COVID-19 funds amounting to over Ksh 10 million.
According to the auditor, the county illegally awarded tenders to various companies worth Ksh 10 million which was against the Public Procurement and Disposal Act.
