Kirinyaga denies spending Ksh 1.2M to open facebook account

Kirinyaga County Executive Member for Finance Murimi Murage has denied allegations that the County Governor Joseph Ndathi has spent Ksh 1.2 million on a contractor to open a County Facebook page.

The CEC, however, said payments were made for maintenance of the Facebook account as per the county operations regulations.

Murimi said the maintenance involved managing the governor’s content which had to be paid for since during the first year of service there was shortage of personnel.

He added that he cannot confirm whether the contract is still valid since it covered the year 2013/2014 when the county was under-staffed.

This comes at a time when county administrations are under fire by residents who have asked the respective finance officers to account for the ‘abnormal’ budgetary allocations towards various projects.

This comes even as Bungoma county faces sharp criticism over the purchase of ten wheelbarrows at a cost of Ksh 109,320 each.

This acquisition sparked outrage with residents and human rights activists terming the purchase as ‘graft of the highest order’.

Speaking to Citizen TV on Monday, Governor Lusaka confirmed the purchase of the ten wheelbarrows and hooks but defended the price saying the wheelbarrows are not ordinary.

“The preliminary report indicates that the Ministry of Agriculture made a requisition and the committee recommended that the wheelbarrows be purchased at a cost of Ksh109,000 but the market price ranges between Ksh 78,000 to Ksh 112,320 while hooks cost Ksh 32,550,” he said.

Lusaka added the wheelbarrows will be used in the slaughter house situated in Chwele, Bungoma County.