Uproar as Name Of Dead MCA Appears Among Those Listed In a controversial Uganda trip

Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) has put Siaya County Assembly on spot after a name of a dead member was listed among those who travelled to Jinja, Uganda in February.

A report by the anti-graft agency indicates that Members of the County Assembly (MCAs) stage-managed the controversial trip after they travelled to the Kenya-Ugandan Border.

It is claimed that the MCAs only had their passports stamped and returned home without attending a workshop in Uganda on the said trip.

Upon their investigation, EACC were shocked that the late Mr Joanes Andiego Odongo’s name was included in the list.

At the time of his death, Mr Odongo was the Central Sakwa MCA who also served as the Majority Whip at the assembly.

The MCA died on May 17, 2018, after a long battle with liver and kidney complications.

He was later succeeded by his son Charlton Andiego in the subsequent by-election.

According to the documents in possession of the EACC, the late MCA made it to the trip and was paid all the allowances.

However, in their defence, the county assembly noted that there was an alleged mix-up in the names.

County Assembly Speaker George Okode told the Nation on phone that as a requirement for controls on foreign trips, MCAs were expected to get clearance from the Ministry of Devolution and while doing so, the secretariat that was organising the trip could have generated the erroneous list by mistake.

“When I asked the clerk, who keeps the records he told me that the list had been generated and sent to the ministry for clearance and it was only realised later that it had some errors, “ stated Mr Okode.

He further noted that they had all the evidence that the trip happened, including photos and video recordings of the training in a hotel in Jinja.

According to the document dated January 21 and signed by the assembly clerk, a total of 43 MCAs had been proposed to attend a benchmarking-cum-training at the Lake Victoria Fisheries Organisation (LVFO) in Jinja, from February 1 to 15.

During the stay, each legislator pocketed Ksh136,144 and a further transport allowance of Ksh10,000.

All the others were entitled to the same amounts apart from the Speaker who in the document is indicated was to receive Ksh184,346.

The EACC has summoned 41 Siaya MCAs to shed light on the controversial trip.

The ward reps are expected to appear before the detectives in Kisumu from Monday next week to be questioned and to record statements.