EACC cautions county leaders over tender and job demands
The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has warned county leaders against using their positions to demand tenders and jobs, raising concern over rising corruption cases that threaten the success of devolution.
Speaking in Kakamega on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, during the launch of a capacity-building workshop on Corruption Risk Assessment and Mitigation for the County Government of Kakamega, EACC Western Regional Manager Eric Ngumbi said graft was denying citizens essential services.
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“Every shilling stolen is a child denied education, a mother denied healthcare and a community denied development. Every act of corruption diminishes the dignity of our people,” Ngumbi said.
Billions lost annually
The forum marked the second phase of the programme in Kakamega County, following a similar exercise for the County Assembly last week.
The county becomes the 35th to benefit from the Commission’s corruption prevention initiative.
Ngumbi noted that while some counties had made progress in service delivery, others had turned into “centres of theft,” with billions of shillings lost through irregular procurement and fraud.
He said EACC had detected new schemes in which senior officials used junior staff and proxy companies to loot public funds.
He pointed out that in some cases, payments already approved by the Controller of Budget were voided so that money could be diverted to irregular pending bills.
Some counties, he added, were failing to remit statutory deductions from workers’ salaries, while funds retained in hospitals to support operations were being stolen.
Ngumbi further raised concern over a growing trend of bulk imprest withdrawals in cash for senior officers, saying the money was later surrendered using forged documents.
“In some cases, we are told ‘the governor wants Ksh5 million by 4:00 pm.’ Yet by law, imprest is supposed to be paid directly to individual accounts,” he said.
Ngumbi also faulted Members of County Assemblies (MCAs) for demanding tenders and jobs for relatives and political supporters.
“When these demands are not met, they threaten executives with impeachment or push for transfers. This compromises oversight and fuels corruption,” he cautioned.
In Bungoma, he revealed that six MCAs are under investigation for awarding tenders worth Ksh144.2 million to companies linked to their families and associates.
