15 Bomet County Govt officials in court over graft

By Simon Ngure

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has served 15 Bomet County officials accused of involvement in fraudulent hiring of ambulances with summons to appear before court on Tuesday.

The agency’s Deputy Director South Rift Region, Mr Gibert Lukhoba, told the told Citizen Digital among those arrested on today evening are County Secretary Jonathan K Soi and County Executive of Health Dr Stanley Kiplang’at.

The officials will appear before a Kericho magistrate to answer to charges related to irregular hiring of six ambulances, said Mr Lukhoba.

A team of more than ten officers from EACC on Friday failed to arrest the officials after they went into hiding, switching off their phones.

The detectives stormed the county headquarters, paralyzing duties for the better part of Friday morning. The suspects, who are mainly from the tender committee and procurement department, were not in their work stations.

“We laid an ambush at the county headquarters but the officials fled and switched their phones off. But we were not deterred; we continued tracking them,” said Mr Lukhoba.

Among other faults, the County Government is on spot for hiring six ambulances from the Kenya Red Cross Society at a cost of Ksh600, 000 each per month.

The hiring was allegedly done through single sourcing.

The anti-graft agency  is also investigating how county Governor Isaac Ruto acquired immense wealth, including a helicopter, 40 earthmovers, tippers and graders, and a palatial residence worth Ksh33 million in Ngong, Kajiado County.

The commission puts Ruto’s accumulated wealth at Ksh400 million, and the value of the aircraft at over Sh300 million.

The county boss is also said to own a string of petrol stations, according to an EACC report.

The governor has, however, dismissed the allegations, terming them “hogwash”.

Ruto is among twelve other governors under investigation over corruption allegations.

In March this year, EACC formed a 130-member special team to expedite the investigations and possible prosecution of Cabinet secretaries, principal secretaries, parastatal heads, governors and other public officials.

Sources within the agency have also revealed that the commission will likely speed up investigations against governors and, where evidence is sufficiently strong, arrest them and charge them