Nakuru Countys Kinuthia Mbugua summoned over El Nino cash

Members of the County Assembly of Nakuru have summoned their Governor Kinuthia Mbugua to appear before their County accounts committee over the misused Ksh500 million El-nino funds that had been set to be used in mitigation effects of the rains.

Nakuru Governor Kinuthia Mbugua has been summoned by Members of his County Assembly to answer to allegations of the misuse of Ksh500 million set aside for El-nino mitigation efforts.

In a motion moved by Visoi MCA, Gitau Kamau, the county legislators accused two MCAs of signing off for the money on their behalf, without their knowledge. These two, Kamau claims, facilitated the siphoning of El Nino funds.

They accused Governor Kinuthia Mbugua of setting aside the money and effecting its use without Involving the County Assembly, thus effectively keeping them from implementating their constitutionally mandated oversight role.

Supporting the motion, women MCAs led by Keringet representative Leah Serem, warned that the County Government had no mandate to use the money without their approval.

Bahati, Naivasha and Kapkures ward representatives Peter Nderitu Mwangi, Karoni Maina and Joseph Langat respectively noted that their County had developed a habit of using money without their approval.

This comes even as the Senate Public Accounts Committee plans to grill Governor Kinuthia Mbugua over his administration’s expenditure.

Last week Mbugua appeared before the committee chaired by Kakamega Senator Bonny Khalwale where he admitted that he had not submitted the required documents to the County Assembly as required.

It also emerged that for the last three financial years, Nakuru County Government has been spending money without the approval of the County Assembly.

Nominated Senator Martha Wangari, who is also a member of the committee, said that during the first round of grilling, Governor Mbugua could not clearly outline how cash allocated from the national government was spent.

Wangari said it was worrying to note that out of Ksh5 billion allocated to the county, only Ksh800 million was spent on development.

The committee had asked Kinuthia to provide a clear tabulation of what they pay for services and to whom the payments are made.

The committee further called on members of the public to be on the lookout, urging them to raise questions on projects funded by county governments.