Nandi Finance CEC Alfred Lagat removed from office

Nandi County's Finance executive Alfred Lagat outside the assembly on June 18, 2019 ahead of the presentation of the 2019/20 budget. PHOTO | FILE | NATION MEDIA GROUP

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  • The MCAs also cited falling locally generated revenue since 2017, mismanagement of bursaries, questionable purchase of water drilling machines without water rigs, snubbing of the county assembly and declining to provide documents to the assembly.

Nandi County Finance executive Alfred Lagat was on Wednesday impeached by ward reps, who accused him of failing to clear pending bills that occasioned a financial crisis in the devolved unit after the Treasury blocked further allocations.

The MCAs voted out Mr Lagat, a key ally of Governor Stephen Sang, during a lively session on Wednesday. Twenty-five out of 39 MCAs voted to impeach him, with one abstaining and one opposing. Other ward representatives were not in the assembly during the voting.

The financial crisis has seen almost all the employees, including MCAs, miss their December and January salaries, the most affected being assembly workers who have not been paid for three months.

The MCAs also cited the falling local revenue since 2017, mismanagement of bursaries, questionable purchase of water drilling machines without water rigs, snubbing of the county assembly and declining to provide documents to the assembly.

During the debate, the MCAs asked the governor to sack Mr Lagat, failure to which they warn that they will impeach him.

They warned that he will face the same fate as former Kiambu Governor Ferdinand Waititu if he does not act.

They said the crisis had also stalled key operations in the county.

The impeachment motion was moved by Kiptuya MCA Geoffrey Kevolue and was seconded by his Tinderet counterpart Kipkurui Chepkwony.

Earlier 31 MCAs had appended their signatures in support of the impeachment.

Deputy Speaker Wilson Sang, Majority Leader David Koech and assembly Finance Committee Chairman Walter Teno led colleagues in supporting the impeachment of Mr Lagat, who has not been in good terms with the representatives since he was appointed in 2017.

“If the governor does not act as demanded by this assembly, the county will be placed under receivership. We will ask the national government to appoint Uasin Gishu Governor Jackson Mandago or Kakamega Governor Wycliffe Oparanya to come and act and help us streamline operations and improve services in Nandi County,” said Mr Chepkwony when he seconded the motion.

Kapsabet MCA Fred Kemboi said all government vehicles in the county had been grounded despite the county spending billions of shilling paying for fuel since 2017.

“Before voters kick this government out in 2022, we want to send a message to ensure the Finance CEC is out. We will deal with Governor Sang later,” he said.

Terik MCA Osborn Komen, counterparts Emmanuel Mengeech (Lessos), Cornelius Some and Teresa Maiyo told the assembly that the county was suffering because of impunity and nepotism ,saying most of the county ministers had been denied funds for key projects.

The MCAs also claimed some of the former CECs sacked by the governor had been appointed in other positions through the backdoor, earning salaries and allowances as before.

“When we travelled out of Nandi county we were ashamed to see multi-million-shilling development projects which other counties have put in place but back in Nandi there is nothing,” said Ms Maiyo.

After the vote, Assembly Speaker Joshua Kiptoo said impunity had subjected Nandi residents to suffering and the assembly must ensure the executive provides quality services to the taxpayers.