Governor Ojaamong to spend two days in police cell

Busia Governor Sospeter Ojaamong and three County Executives are set to spend two days behind bars after they were charged with corruption related offences.

Ojaamong, together with Bernard Yaite, Allan Ekweny and Samuel Ombui will cool their heels at EACC cells in Nairobi until Friday, July 6 when a ruling on their bail/bond will be made by Chief Magistrate Douglas Ogoti.

Ojaamong and company are accused of defrauding the county government of Ksh.8 million.

They also face other charges including; conspiracy to commit economic crime, abuse of office, engaging in a project without proper planning, failure to comply with law relating to management of public funds and 2 counts of fraudulent acquisition of public property. They denied all the charges.

The court heard that they fraudulently engaged a company; Madam R Enterprise to conduct a feasibility study on waste management in Busia.

The prosecution opposed Ojaamong’s release arguing that he is influential and if released on bail he will interfere with witnesses lined up in the case to testify against him. The court was told that most of the witnesses in the case are juniors to the governor.

However, the defense, through lawyer James Orengo, opposed the prosecution’s application, arguing that the accused persons presented themselves before the commission, hence, they should not be denied bail.

“There’s no material placed before this court to demonstrate that the accused persons are likely to interfere with witnesses in the case,” argued Lawyer James Orengo.

Ojaamong presented himself to the EACC offices after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Noordin Haji approved his arrest and prosecution alongside 9 county staff over alleged abuse of office.

They were grilled at the EACC headquarters for hours before being presented to court.