A row has erupted over use of Sh177 million World Bank funds to upgrade Kapsabet town after probe reports alleged financial mismanagement, shoddy work and unjustified delays.
It was not clear which report was official and Governor Stephen Sang said the final report had not reached his desk.
MCA Kipkurui Chepkwony, chairman of the ad hoc committee probing the Kapsabet upgrade, told the Star he was aware of two reports in circulation.
He branded ‘fake’ the report calling for the sacking of six officers, including two county executives.
“We did not have such recommendations in our report,” Chepkwony told the Star.
He said the report he tabled at the county assembly made more than 12 recommendations, none of which indicted county officers.
The committee, however, did not give a clean bill of health to the upgrade, he said.
The upgrade is nearing completion. Officials have blamed delays on flooding and the economic effects of Covid-19.
Kapsabet is one of the towns benefitting from the World Bank’s Kenya Urban Support Programme.
The upgrade includes construction of a sewer line, walkways, Jua Kali sheds, street lights, ablution blocks and sheds at the Kapsabet bus park.
There have been claims of substandard work, flawed tendering and unjustified delays in implementation.
In the first report widely circulated in Kapsabet, the ad hoc committee is said to have recommended the governor sack a number of officials over project mismanagement.
Emergence of the two reports has sparked a row between MCAs and leadership of the assembly.
Governor Sang told the Star he also was aware of several fake reports in circulation and it was not clear which was the official one for the assembly.
“I will wait for the official report to reach me before I can comment on the contents,” Sang said.
(Edited by V. Graham)